The One Who Knew Too Much
by demongaara105
Summary: Gravity Falls is full of weird stuff. Two kids go out and search for the weird stuff that surround Gravity Fa-hu? Who's this guy? What's he talking to Grunkle Stan about? What's he hiding? Is it possible he knows all about Gravity Falls? Or maybe...there's more to that! Spoilers ahead and probably some tears will be shed.
1. It Begins!

Gravity Falls. That's where it all began for him. He had hoped that getting what he wanted would be fast and easy. However, with what's about to happen, he might have to wait a bit longer. He walked up the long dirt path that leads towards where he needed to go; the Mystery Shack. While he was walking down the dirt path, he would every now and then look at the forest that surrounded him. Finally, after the long walk, he had arrived at the Mystery Shack. All except one letter was standing on top of the roof; the S had fallen off so just says, Mystery Hack.

"This is it," he said to himself. As he walked up to the shack he noticed a few things. Above the porch was a sign that read "Gift Shop" , a soda machine on his left with a penny press machine next to it, and a big cooler to his left. The young man looked at each one of these with confusion written on his face.

"Something's not right here," he said before he walked through the side entrance of the gift shop; dusting off his black shirt and blue jeans off before he entered. When he walked in, he saw what you would usually see in a gift shop; t-shirts, mugs, snowglobes, and some other stuff. What caught his attention was some of the other stuff they had. Hand in a jar eyeballs in a jar, a skull with one eye socket, and a bear head with a unicorn horn on top of his head.

"Excuse me?" he said to the cashier. "Can you tell me where your...boss...is?" When he looked at the cashier he saw a little girl with long brown hair, braces, and a shooting star on her pink sweater.

"Oh you mean Grunkle Stan?" she said, "He's over there!" She pointed in the direction of a postcard display stand, where her boss was standing. The entire time, though, the guy she was talking to was staring at the shooting star on her sweater. When she looked back over at him, she noticed that he wasn't paying attention and poked his cheek for some odd reason. Somehow this snapped him out of his trance.

"Hey," she said, "You okay?" Instead of giving her a verbal response, he just nodded her head.

"Sorry," he said, "It's that shooting star on your sweater. For some reason, I feel like I've seen it before" He walked over to the man standing over by the postcard display stand, with a table full of coffee mugs nearby. He looked to be between the age of 50 and 60 with a five o'clock shadow, brown eyes gray hair. He wore a maroon fez with a yellow crescent and dot on it, a black suit and white dress shirt under it.

"It can't be him," the young man said to himself. "But...it doesn't hurt to check" As soon as he walked up to him, the old man turned his head towards him.

"Hello uh...Grunkle Stan, is it?" the stranger said to him. "Would you mind helping me out with something? I'm looking for someone" As he talked to him, he picked up one of the coffee mugs from the table next to him.

"That's actually what my kids call me," the old man said, "Call me Stan. Stanford Pines!" As soon as Stan said his name, the guy he was talking to started squeezing the mug he held in his hand; hard!

"Oh!" he said, "Stanford Pines, eh? That's funny because that's who I'm looking for!" He did his best to stay calm and keep a smile on his face, but he was having a bit of a hard time. "Okay, Stan Pines!" he started, "Since you're here I'd thought I'd ask you a question or two!"

"Sure," he said to him. This guy seemed to be upset about something so he thought that he could answer a question or two to help calm him down. "What is that you want to a-"

"Where is the real Stanford Pines you fake?"

Stan was a bit surprised by what he was asking him. How dare someone come into his store and call him a fake? Not to mention accusing him of identity fraud!

"What're you talking about?" Stan said to him, "I am Stanford Pi-"

"Don't play games with me, old man!" the stranger yelled, squeezing the mug in his hand tighter and tighter until it shattered into pieces. Not even caring about causing a scene, the guy pinned Stanford up against a wall. "I've met and seen the real Stanford and you're not him!" It was a while before Stan gave him a response.

"Let me go or else I'm getting the police involved," he said, talking calmly to him. Realizing what he was doing, he let go of Grunkle Stan and took a step away from him. "I want you out of my store, right now"

"Yes sir" The young man started, "But before I do, can I say something first?" Even though this guy just caused a scene and attacked him, Stan could at least let him say something before the stranger left his store forever.

"Sure," he started, "What is it that you wanna sa-"

"Your brother was a great man, Stanley," he said, talking soft enough to where only Stan can hear him. "He always talked about you before he vanished. I'm sorry for not noticing who you were" With those words, he walked out of the store; not bothering to give the people around him a second glance. And Stanley? He was still standing up against the wall; thinking about the good times he had with his brother.

"G-Grunkle Stan?" said a worried Mabel, "Are you okay?" Not even bothering to give her a response, he also walked out of the store. As he passed by the counter, he gently patted Mabel's head a few times. When he stepped outside, closing the door behind him, he noticed the guy that the guy he kicked out was sitting on his porch.

"I thought I told you to get out of here," he said, talking calmly still as he walked up to the young man. He didn't really say anything to Stan; he just let out a soft chuckle.

"I could of sworn you told me, 'I want you out of my store' . Well I'm not in your store, I'm outside it" He turned his head and looked up at Stan; giving him a small smile. He patted on the spot next to him. "Come sit with me," he said, "Let's talk, Stanley"

"Why are you still here?" asked Stanley, "How do you know about me and my brother? Just who are you?" So many questions were flying from his mouth; and yet no answers were given.

"I'll answer your questions as soon as you sit down" Doing as told, Stan sat down next to this suspicious stranger. "I think I'll answer the third question. It's Jason, pleased to meet you. For the first question, I'm still here because I knew you'd want some answers. I promise to pay for that mug, by the way"

"It's alright," said Stanley, with a bit of a smile on his face. "I'll get over it eventually"

"And for the second question…" Jason started smiling as he thought about his answer for this question. "Me and Ford go way back. Like your brother, I was into all of that paranormal stuff. We would go on adventures, look for outstanding things, it was amazing! Whenever we found something, he would write about it in his journals. The last time I saw him was when he made that portal…" After he finished his story, he went quiet for a while. When Stan saw the depressed look on Jason's face, he thought that it'd be best not to ask anymore questions.

"I'm sorry kid" Stan started, "But...my brother isn't here anymore" It was at that moment that he remembered something. "Wait a minute...say that last part again!" Jason looked at Stan a bit confused.

"The last time I saw him was when he made that portal?" "Now the one before that!" "He wrote in his journals?"

"BINGO!"

Jason was now more confused due to what was going going on right now. Exactly why did he need to repeat everything he just said?

"Stanley, I'm confused," said Jason, "Mind giving me an explanation?" The only thing Stan told him was to meet him back at the Mystery Shack at night time; no explanation, just to meet him there at night.

* * *

 ** _5 Hours Later_**

It was nighttime and everyone had gone to bed. Well, not exactly everyone. After running out from the woods, towards the front entrance, Jason stepped up onto the porch as to not wake anyone. Giving the door a few quick knocks, he waited. And waited. And waited. Luckily he wore a jacket or else he'd be freezing his butt off. The door swung open, revealing Grunkle Stan in a white tank top, blue boxer shorts, and also very large belly. When he opened the door, he had a baseball bat held up high in the air; ready to strike any incoming intruders.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY FA- Oh! It's you, Jason" said Stan, as he regained his composure and lowered his bat.

"Come on, Stan," Jason said, "If it was a snake, it woulda bit ya!" As soon as Stan stepped aside, Jason stepped through the entrance into the gift shop; Stan closing the door behind him.

"Before I show you," Stan started, "I need to ask you one more thing. You said that the last time you saw my brother was when he made that portal, right?" Jason only nodded his head to his question. "But that was over 30 years ago! If you were there, then you wouldn't look so...young!" Jason thought about his answer for Stan; the best way to explain it.

"Stan I wish I could tell you," he said, "But I can't. More like there's nothing to tell you, because I don't know myself" Even though Stan didn't want to accept his answer, he did so anyways. Somehow he could tell that there was some truth to what he said.

"Alright kid," he said to Jason before stepping over to the vending machine. Now it was Jason's turn to be confused. As he was walking towards the vending machine, Stan picked up a lit lantern that was on the counter. As soon as he got to the vending machine, he started punching in some of the keys on the vending machine's keypad.

"Stanley? Now is not the time for-" After punching in the keys, the entire vending machine itself swung open. "Snacks" When Jason looked to see what was behind the vending machine, he saw a flight of stairs leading downwards towards something. After Stan went in and started going down the stairs, Jason followed him in; closing the doorway of the secret entrance behind him.

"Trust me," Stan said, "It'll be worth the wait" As soon as they got to the bottom of the stairs, they walked down a sort of long hallway which had computers all over the walls.

"Stanley," Jason said as they got to the very end of the long hallway. "I'll believe when I see it"

"...I'm seeing it and I cannot believe it!" he said as he stood in front of a large upside down triangle with a large circle in the middle of it. "It's here...it's really here!" He ran to the metal table located at the end of the hallway, where Stan was waiting for him. When he came over to the metal table, he spotted a red journal with a golden 6 fingered handprint on it.

"That's it alright!" said Stanley as he stared at the portal. "My brother's portal!" It was then he noticed Jason staring at the journal. "Oh yeah," he said, "You were around when he made these" As soon as Stan handed Jason the journal, he read that thing probably faster than anyone has ever read.

"It's here! It's all here!" Jason said, excitedly. "Stanley, thank you for showing me this. Both the journal, and his portal. It's nice to know that there is at least some part of Ford that still remains here in Gravity Falls. He really was a great man" When he looked over at Stanley, he saw a few tears sliding down his face with a smile on his face.

"Thanks kid," he said, "It's nice to know someone besides me knows that" Smiling back at him, Jason gave him a light pat on the back. "But don't worry," he said, "He won't be gone much longer"

"...What?" said a confused Jason. "Mind repeating that, Stanley? I think I've got something in my ear" As a joke, he pretended to pick something out of his ear. "Are you saying that Ford is...coming back?" Still smiling, Stanley gave his a soft nod. His mood immediately changed because he knew he had to explain to the kid; by telling him EVERYTHING. After Stanley finished talking to him, Jason had turned his head away from him.

"So that's why Ford is gone?" said an obviously mad Jason; gripping the edge of the table hard. "Stanley Pines. As much as I want to...I know that won't solve anything. We've both done things that we regret to this very day. We've both lost family members. Plus if I did attack you, not only would Ford never forgive me...neither would I" When Jason turned his head towards Stanley, he had tears streaming down his face.

"Hey hey now," said Stan "To be honest, I still haven't forgiven myself for what happened. But trust me when I say that we will get him back" Jason smiled after hearing this, slowly letting go of the table; the edge of the table being slightly bent. "Once we get the other journals, we'll be able the portal up and running in no time"

"I'll help you out so long as you don't threaten me with the cops again," said Jason with a smile on his face. "Oh, and no baseball bat either!" Stan couldn't help but laugh at this kid.

"Only if you don't make another scene like last time, kid!" said Stan, holding his hand towards Jason. "So long as you don't do that, it's a deal!" He grabbed his hand and gave it a light shake. While Stan was heading back down the hallway, Jason was busy staring at his hand.

"Deal…It's a deal…why does that sound familiar?"


	2. Gnomeageddon

Jason was standing in front of the door of the Mystery Shack; well, the gift shop of the Mystery Shack. There was still 5 minutes left until it opened, but he offered to help around the gift shop to make up for scaring Mabel; the kid that was working at the cashier yesterday.

' _Come on,'_ he thought to himself, ' _what's there to be scared of? He's already forgiven you! So long as you don't cause trouble, nothing bad will happen!'_ He looked through the little window at the top of the door, looking around a little. He saw Stan talking to Mable.

"Stan if you doing what I think you're doing," Jason said as he started smiling. "I'll owe you one" Pulling his head away from the window, he gave the door a few quick knocks. After waiting for a while, he heard a click a two and then the door opened in front of him.

"Don't worry," Stan said, "I talked to Mabel and told her that it was a misunderstanding, we talked, and to make it up for it...you'll be working here starting today" To be honest, that was kind of what Jason planned to do. But only for a day! "Now listen carefully because I'm going to only say this once," Stan said, now whispering to him. "At night, you can call me Stanley. But during daytime or anywhere in public, you either call me Stan or Grunkle Stan. Got it?" After he was finished talking, Jason gave him a thumbs up.

"I have to ask," Jason said, "Is it just you and Mabel working here?" Stan headed towards the counter where Mabel was with Jason following behind; closing the door behind him. "So you're Mabel, huh?" he asked with Mabel slowly nodding at him. "This is just a guess but is your last name Pines?" Mabel was a bit surprised by what he said.

"Y-Yes it is," she said a bit confused. "But...how did you know?" Did she really not hear what he just said?

"I just guessed, kid," he said, "I also had a feeling when Stan told me his last name. Not to mention that you called him Grunkle Stan. You think I don't know what Grunkle means?" Jason smiled at Mabel, but she looked away from him with a bit of a scared look on her face.

"So uh…" she said, sounding a bit nervous. "You're going to be working here now?" Even an idiot could figure out why she was acting like this. After what happened yesterday, she has a good reason to be scared.

"Mabel, I'm sorry for what happened yesterday," he said, wearing a depressed look on his face. "I'm pretty sure Stan already explained everything to you. Trust me when I say that something like that will never happen again. Mind if we start over?" Looking back at him, Mabel started smiling again; still trying to get over what he did.

"Okay!" she said as she held out her hand. "Mabel Pines! Grunkle Stan's niece!" She smiled big, showing off her braces.

"Jason. A new employee here at the Mystery Shack" he said as he gently shook Mabel's hand, before letting go of it. She stepped out from behind the counter and walked around it. If the both of them were to stand back to back, the top of Mabel's head would come up to the top of Jason's shoulders.

"Well Jason," said Mabel, "Since you're new, I'm going to have to show you how everything works around here!" As she explained everything, a little boy with a blue vest, brown shorts and a brown hat with a star on it came walking around the corner. "Oh hi, Dipper!" said Mabel as she waved at the kid. "New employee! New employee!" Unaware that Mabel was going to start yelling, Jason didn't have enough time to cover his ears.

"M-Mabel?" said Jason, a hint of pain in his voice. "Please be aware of the people around you _before_ you start yelling. Okay?" When Mabel turned around to look at him, she noticed how much pain he was in.

"Oops!" said Mabel, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Dipper, walking up behind her, was holding a soda in his hands with a curious look on his face.

"Hey, Mabel?" Dipper said before taking a quick sip from his soda. "Who's this guy?" Mabel repeats what she said to him, only this time she doesn't yell like earlier. "Hey new guy," he said, "What's your name?"

"My name is...okay! Finally got them to stop ringing" said Jason, feeling relieved after losing the constant ringing in his ears. "Sorry 'bout that. My name is Jason, kiddo" He held his hand out towards Dipper, who also reached his hand out; the two grasping each other's hand and giving a light shake before letting go. "Dipper, huh? Dipper...Pines?"

"How...How'd you know?" asked Dipper. Jason gave him a similar explanation he told Mabel. "Oh...okay then? Hey, Mabel!" He said, turning his head towards his sister. "It's time to open up shop. Where's Soos and Wendy?"

"They should be here any minute now!" said Mabel as she waved her hand towards the front door. "...any minute now!" Eventually, the two did show up 5 minutes later. Soos was a big guy that wore a large green t-shirt with a question mark on it and tan shorts. Wendy was a tall, skinny high school student that wore a jade-colored plaid shirt and blue jeans. Her eyes were green, long copper-red hair that reached past her hips and a few freckles on her naturally colored cheeks.

Today there was only a few people at the Mystery Shack, which made it a bit easy for Jason's first day on the job. One of the task While he was busy filling the snack machine with fresh snacks, he heard Mabel giggling to herself behind him. After he finished filling up the snack machine, he closed the front cover and turned around towards the little girl. She popped her head out from behind a table that held coffee mugs and Grunkle Stan bobbleheads. As she peeked through the bobbleheads, Mabel watched a boy who was standing right next to the counter, read a piece of paper that looked like it had been folded three or four times.

"Uh, ' _Do You Like Me?'_ " He said as he started reading it. " ' _Yes. Definitely. Absolutely!'_ "After reading it, looked around to find the person who wrote this. Not because he was curious, but because he was quite confused.

"I rigged it!" said Mabel as she watched her watched the boy take the bait. Jason couldn't help but roll his eyes at this.

"Mabel," said Dipper who was standing behind his sister, cleaning a jar of eyes. "I know you're going through your whole 'boy crazy' phase. But I think you're kinda overdoing it with the crazy part" After hearing this, Jason nodded in agreement.

"What?" said Mabel, "Come on, Dipper! This is our first summer away from home! It's my chance to have an epic summer romance!" Jason had to admit that Dipper was right; Mabel is kind of overdoing it with the whole crazy part of during her boy crazy phase.

"Dipper's got a point" Said Jason as he turned around to face the two kids. "I'm not telling you to not be yourself when I say this, but maybe you could tone down on the craziness?" Instead of giving him a response, Mabel smiles at him with almost half of her tongue sticking out.

"See? Jason agrees with me!" Dipper said, "But seriously, do you have to flirt with every guy you meet?" Jason heard about this from Dipper. When Mabel saw a boy, doesn't matter where she would immediately start flirting. She flirted with a guy standing by a postcard display stand, a guy with a turtle, she even flirted with a guy who was selling mattresses!

"Mock all you want you two!" said Mabel after she retracted her tongue back into her mouth. "But I've got a good feeling about this Summer. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now!" After she said this, she pointed towards the doorway that worked as both the entrance, and the exit for the museum. As soon as she pointed towards the entrance of the Mystery Shack's museum, what came out of the museum was _not_ what she wanted to see.

"Mabel?" said Jason, "I don't think THIS guy is the man of your dreams" Out of curiosity, Mabel turned her head towards the entrance of the museum.

Stepping out of the museum was Grunkle Stan carrying a bunch of signs under his right arm and holding a can of Pitt Cola in his right hand. His stomach looked a bit large, but it wasn't as large as it was last night. As soon as Stan came through the doorway, he let out a few disgusting belches as Mabel recoiled a bit in disgust.

"All right, all right! Look alive, people!" Said Grunkle Stan, as he stood up straight; his large stomach somehow disappearing, making him looking thin. "I need someone to go hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest!" Keeping a good hold on his soda, Grunkle Stan pulled the signs out from under his arms. After he asked for volunteers, he got a 'Not it!' from Mabel, Dipper, and Jason. Also one from Soos who was putting up a shelf behind them.

"Wendy!" Grunkle Stan said as he turned his head toward Wendy. "I need you to put up these signs!" Said person was leaning back in a chair and resting her feet on the counter while reading a magazine.

"I would," she said as she reached towards the signs; not even bothering to get up. "But I…can't…reach them" She then went back to reading her magazine that included…who knows what in it.

"I'd fire you all if I could," said Grunkle Stan before he placed the signs back under his arm. With everyone not willing to hang up the signs, he had to think up a decision up of a way to make someone go out there. Luckily, he knew a way. "Alright then. Let's see…," he said as he faced towards Mabel, Dipper, Jason, and Soos; pointing towards Dipper at the end "Eeny, meeny, miny…you. Dipper, go hang up these signs" He said as he pointed towards Dipper.

"Aw, what?" said Dipper, "Why not have Jason put up the signs?" When Dipper looked up at Jason, he saw that Jason had a bit of annoyed expression on his face.

"Because Dipper," said Jason, "He told you to do it, didn't he?" He expression slowly changed from annoyed, to cheerful.

"But Grunkle Stan," said Dipper, "Whenever I'm in those woods, I feel like I'm being watched" As Dipper said all of this, Grunkle Stan rolled his eyes at him. "I'm telling you, something weird is going on in this town" As Dipper continued on, his pulled up his left shirt sleeve; revealing several mosquito bites. "Just today my mosquito bites spelled out 'BEWARE' "

"Kid, that says ' _BEWARB'_ , " said Grunkle Stan as he leaned over and looked closely at the word on Dipper's arm. After he leaned back, Dipper pulled the shirt sleeve over his mosquito bites to cover them. "Look, kid," said Grunkle Stan, "The whole 'Monsters in the Forest' thing is just a local legend! Just drummed up by guys, like me, to sell merchandise to guys like that" He pointed to a fat sweaty guy, who was laughing, as he stared at a Grunkle Stan bobblehead.

"Want me to go get a mop?" asked Jason as he stared at the fat guy in disgust. "Because honestly, I don't mind…giving it to someone else" When he looked over to Grunkle Stan, he saw Dipper walking past him and heading outside with the signs in his arms.

* * *

 _ **-Outside the Mystery Shack-**_

"Ugh. Grunkle Stan," said Dipper, "Nobody ever believes anything I say" When he stepped outside, he headed towards the forest just outside of the Mystery Shack and started hanging up signs. Each tree he came upon, he would hammer in a nail and hang up a sign. "This is taking too-"CLANK! He was interrupted by the sound of metal being hit hard with something. Instead of using the nail, Dipper hits the tree with his hammer; getting the same clunking noise from earlier. He placed the hand that wasn't holding the hammer, on the tree and started feeling around to see if there was a panel for him to open. Once he found a panel, he opened it wide and found what looked like an old radio with switches on the top of it. Out of curiosity, he started flicking one of the switches back and forth a few times.

"Baaa!" cried a goat that happened to be walking by, as a secret panel in the ground suddenly let off sounds of whirring machinery. The goat cried again as he ran away scared to who knows where.

* * *

 _ **-Inside the Mystery Shack-**_

"Hey Mabel?" said Grunkle Stan towards Mabel. "Go check on your brother, would you? He should have been back by now from hanging up those signs" Without question, Mabel pushed open the door that leads towards…whatever is behind the door, and headed towards the nearest exit. The door had a sign on it that read, " _Employees Only"_. Once she got outside, she ran towards the forest and started looking for Dipper.

"Hey, Grunkle Stan?" said Jason, "Any reason you sent two kids into the possibly dangerous forest?" After Stan heard this, his reply was rolling his eyes at Jason. "Seriously Stan?"

"I'll tell you what I told Dipper" Stan said, "All that ' _Monsters in the Forest'_ is just a legend. Made up by a bunch of-" "Grunkle Stan, just stop it" He was a bit surprised by Jason suddenly interrupting him. He was more surprised as Jason wrapped an arm around him and pulled him in close; shoulder to shoulder.

"You know as well as I do that it's not a legend," Jason said, whispering so that only Stan can hear him. "You've seen the notes inside his journal. You know that the stuff out there is danger" After he finished talking, he pulled his arm off of Stan. Instead of giving him a response, Grunkle Stan walked away from Jason. " _Do you even care?"_ said Jason under his breath. Not wanting to be in the same room with Grunkle Stan at the moment, Jason pulled open the back door and stepped through the doorway; heading into the…living room? When he opened the door, he stopped when he heard Dipper and Mabel talking from the middle of the living room.

"It's amazing!" Dipper said with excitement in his voice. "Grunkle Stan said that I was just being paranoid! But according to this book, Gravity Falls has this secret dark side!" Jason had to cover his mouth so that the two wouldn't hear him gasp. Dipper found it! He found one of Ford's journals! Jason slowly walked away from the door so that he wouldn't get caught. While he was walking away, he could have sworn he heard a doorbell ring.

"What are you doing?" said Grunkle Stan from behind Jason, making him quickly turn around to face the man behind him. "You okay?" said a quite curious Grunkle Stan.

"Oh yeah!" said Jason, "I was just about to go check to see who's at the door! Why don't you go get yourself another soda?" Jason started heading towards the back door while Grunkle headed towards the kitchen to get himself another Pitt Cola. Once he got himself a soda, he headed towards the living room. He stopped in the middle of the doorway when he spotted Dipper reading a book.

"Whatcha reading there, slick?" Grunkle Stan said. Trying not to seem suspicious, Dipper hid the book inside the couch and grabbed the nearest reading material. Because Stan was standing in the middle of the doorway, Jason had to walk around him just to get into the living room.

"Oh, nothing!" Dipper said as he flipped through the pages of a magazine he picked up. "I was catching up on uh…' _Gold Chains for Old Men'_ ?" When he closed the magazine and looked at the cover, he saw an old man wearing gold chains with two women behind him.

"That's a good issue" Said Grunkle Stan before taking a sip from his Pitt Cola.

"Hey~ family!" said Mabel as she stood in the back doorway of the living room. "Say hello to my new boyfriend!" Standing next to her was a teenager…? He wore a black jacket, pale pasty skin and brown hair that hung over his left eye. Sticking out the top of his jacket was a stick. "We met at the cemetery. He's really deep" said Maybe as she held onto the young man's arm. "Oh! A little bit of muscle there. What...What a surprise"

"So what's your name?" asked Jason who was sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room. "Also, is that blood on your cheek?"

"N-Name…" said the young man as he talked in a bit of a gruff voice. "N-Name…Uh…N-Normal…Man!" Somehow, even with how suspicious this guy was acting, Mabel was still liking this guy.

"He means Norman," said Mabel. Okay so "Norman" answered the first question, but there was still the other one.

"Uh, Norman?" said Dipper, "Are you bleeding? There's some blood on your cheek" Luckily, Dipper was no fool either. Norman tried to think up of a good excuse for the thick, gooey substance on his cheek.

"It's jam," He said. Apparently that jam excuse did work. Well, worked on Mabel at least.

"I love jam!" she said as she gave Normal a light shove before pointing at herself and then at Norman a few times. "Look at this!" As he watched all of this, Jason was feeling that there was something not right with Norman. Also, while he watched this, he wished that the two would just go on their date already. Mabel is adorable and all, but she is getting way too excited about this.

"So, you wanna go hold hands or… whatever?" said Norman, talking in the same gruff voice. From the way he said it, it seemed like he wanted to get out of here quickly.

"Oh! Oh my goodness!" said Mabel as she started giggling. "Don't wait up!" Eager to start the date already, Mabel turned around and ran out the back door with Norman still in the doorway. When Norman started following her, he ran into the edge of the doorway of the living room. After taking a step back from the door edge, he turned around, walked towards the back door and followed Mabel outside; but not before knocking over a few things on his way out.

' _There's something about Norman that doesn't seem right'_ Dipper thought to himself. He started walking towards a set of stairs that lead to the attic, with the journal under his left arm. Making sure that Stan was still reading his magazine, Jason slowly got up from where he sat and followed Dipper. He stopped at the bottom of the staircase and waited until Dipper had already gotten to the top and was out of sight.

"I've got to get that journal" Jason muttered to himself. "It's the only way to get Ford back" He started walking up the stairs until he came to the top. After looking around, he spots Dipper sitting on a bench reading the journal. Jason started walking up to him but stopped halfway as he noticed the shadow on the floor. It was a large triangle that had only one eye.

" _Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes, these creatures are often mistaken for…_ teenagers?!" Dipper said as he began reading the journal. " _Beware Gravity Fall's notorious…"_

"Hey, Dipper!" Jason said as he walked up to Dipper. "Hey is that a book you're reading? Mind if I take a look at it?" He slowly reached for the journal Dipper held in his ha-

"ZOMBIE!"

"OW!" screamed Jason as Dipper's loud voice ran violently throughout his eardrums. "Jeeez! Why are you yelling?!" When Jason looked over at Dipper, he saw that the kid was looking at something through the window. Curious as to what it was, Jason looked over his shoulder; making sure to take a small step back just in case the kid decides to yell again. When he looked, he saw Mabel sitting on top of a picnic table and Norman walking towards her with his arms reaching out towards her.

"Oh no! Mabel!" screamed Dipper as Norman got closer to Mabel. "No no no! Mabel, watch out!" While Dipper was distracted, Jason picked up the journal and started reading the page Dipper was looking at; taking a quick look at the cover before actually reading the page. When he looked at the cover, he was able to get a better look at what was on it. On the cover, it had the golden six-fingered hand like the journal that Stan has. But, unlike the other journal, drawn on the hand was the number three. ' _Good, now we just have to figure out where the heck the last one is'_ After he was done reading it, he started reading some other pages. While he was reading the journal, Dipper had calmed down when he saw Norman give Mabel a necklace made out of daisies. "Is my sister really dating a zombie?" said Dipper as he climbed off of the bench. "Or am I just going nuts?"

"It's a dilemma to be sure"

"AHHH!" screamed both Dipper and Jason out of fright by the sudden appearance of Soos. In the middle of the room, Soos was on a step ladder replacing a bulb for a lamp.

"Sorry dudes," Soos said, "Didn't mean to scare ya. Anyway, Dipper. I couldn't help but overhear you talking aloud to yourself" Jason, who had dropped the journal when Soos scared him, was busy looking all over for it. After looking all over for it, he found the journal laying right at his feet. He picks up the journal and goes back to reading it.

"Soos, you've seen Mabel's boyfriend," Dipper said, "He's got to be a zombie, right?" The handyman, while he finished replacing the bulb, was thinking about what Dipper said. It's possible, or it could be not possible.

"How many brains did you see the guy eat?" Soos asked as he got down from the step ladder. Jason, after reading the journal for a while, decided that he could use a quick break and sets it aside; even though he only read 8 or 10 pages.

"Zero brains"

"Look, dude, I believe you." Said Soos as he started getting serious. "I'm always noticing weird stuff in this town. Like that mailman? _Pretty_ sure that dude's a werewolf" Jason had to admit that Soos was right. Well, maybe not about the mailman being a werewolf.

"Soos has got a point, Dipper," said Jason as he got up from the bench, journal in his left hand, and walked up to them. "You're going to need evidence to prove that this guy is a zombie. Otherwise, people will think you're insane"

"You guys are right" Said Dipper before noticing the journal in Jason's hand in the corner of his eye. "Hey, Jason?" said Dipper, "What're you doing with my journal?" Jason had to think up of an excuse fast. Luckily Soos had already left because Stan called for him to fix the portable toilets.

"Why do I have it?" Jason asked, "Well it looked interesting to me and I wanted to read it. You can have it back" He tossed the journal, giving it an underhand toss, towards Dipper; luckily the kid caught the journal in his arms.

"Thanks, Jason," said Dipper as he tucked the journal into his vest. "See ya. I'm gonna go get evidence to prove to everyone that Norman is not what he seems!" After he said that, the kid ran down the stairs and headed outside through the back door; leaving Jason alone in the attic.

"I might as well get back to work," Jason said as he started heading downstairs. But then, he stopped at the bottom when an idea popped into his head. "Or…we could just close up the Mystery Shack early!" It was then an image of a very ticked off Grunkle Stan popped into his head. "Or…not. I'll get back to work now" Once he stepped through the doorway that leads into the gift shop, he started shelving Mystery Shack snow globes. While he was shelving snowglobes, he noticed a few stone tablets that were standing on a table against a wall. The markings on them didn't look to be any known human language or number system. When no one was looking, he grabbed a pen and paper and copied the markings from the tablets, onto the paper.

* * *

 _ **-10 Minutes Later-**_

"Mabel," said Dipper, walking into his and Mabel's bedroom. "We have to talk about Norman" Dipper and Mabel's bedroom was like any regular brother sister bedroom; except it was smaller because it was in the attic. Dipper had one side, which had several books, a lantern, and a regular old bed. And Mabel had the other side which had…basically what you'd expect. On her side, she had a comfy pretty bed, a boy band and rainbow poster, a full body mirror, and several cowboy boots.

"Isn't Norman the best?" said Mabel, "Check out this giant smooch mark he gave me!" When she turned her head, she exposed her cheek which had a big red circle on it. Confusing this for a zombie bite, Dipper screamed. "Ha ha! Gullible!" said Mabel, "It was just an accident with a leaf blower" A few minutes ago, Mabel tried to practice kissing by using a picture of Norman and a leaf blower! Jason had to come out and help get the thing off of her face.

"That was fun," Mabel said with a smile on her face…for some strange reason.

"No! Mabel, just listen!" Dipper said as he pulled the journal out from his vest. "I'm trying to tell you that Norman is not what he seems!"

"You think he might be a vampire?" Mabel said as her head started filling up with ideas. "That would be so awesome!" A certain someone just couldn't take it anymore and decided to finally come in. Jason opened the door to the kids' bedroom and stepped through the doorway.

"What is it with you girls and vampires?" he said, getting a bit of a glare from Mabel. "Sorry…sorry"

"Well guess again sister…SHA-BAM!" Dipper said as he opened the journal and showed Mabel a drawing of a cartoonish looking gnome. The girl screamed as she saw this, both in terror and somehow in disgust.

"Uh, Dipper?" said Jason, "Wrong page" Dipper looked at the page the journal was showing, and then he started flipping through the journal until he got to the page he was looking for. ' _Wait a minute…'_ Jason thought to himself, ' _Gnomes…gnomes…why can't I…why can't I remember them?'_

"SHA-BAM!" Dipper said again as he showed Mabel the page about zombies. When Mabel saw this, she had a look on her face that Dipper wasn't expecting.

"A zombie?" said Mabel, "That's not funny, Dipper!" Mabel was enjoying herself today; having herself a good time! She didn't need her brother to ruin it with his conspiracies. And Jason? He…He kept looking at floor acting all confused for some reason.

"I'm not joking!" Dipper said, now sounding more serious. "It all adds up: the bleeding, the limp, and he never blinks! Have you noticed that?"

"H-Hey I'm gonna step out," said Jason as he walked out of Dipper and Mabel's bedroom. When he looked behind him, he'd notice that they were too focused on their conversation to even notice him. He decided to step aside to help him focus; help him figure out why he couldn't remember the gnomes. If he helped with the journals then he should be able to remember them. Once he got outside through the back door, he sat down on the porch and started thinking. ' _Gnomes…gnomes…damn it! Still nothing!'_ He was suddenly interrupted by his thoughts by the sound of a doorbell. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw Norman standing in front of the door. When the door opened, it revealed Mabel wearing star-shaped earrings and a purple sparkly sweater with a pink cat on it.

"How do I look?" said Mabel as she did a cute little pose with a big smile on her face. As she did, her sweater started sparkling; even the cat's eyes on her sweater started sparkling.

"Sh-Shiny!"

"You always know what to say!" she said as she stepped outside whilst closing the door behind her. The two then walked into the woods for their date. Jason waved at the two as they walked by him, but as they passed by he caught a whiff of something.

"That smell…" he said to himself, "It's cologne but…" He started sniffing the scent again to see if it would help him remember the name of the cologne. "The cologne! It's…It-" He was suddenly interrupted by Dipper running outside towards Grunkle Stan. ' _Really kid? Now is not the time!'_ Jason thought to himself as he watched the very kid who interrupted his train of thought run past him. ' _Although…I guess I can forgive you'_

"Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan!" said Dipper as he ran towards his great uncle, who was showing off a rock that looked like a face which was placed on top of a wooden stand.

"And here we have, "Rock That Looks Like A Face" rock," said Grunkle Stan as he showed off this big chunk of smiling face rock to a crowd of people. "The rock that looks like a face" Of course, there was going to be some irritating people in the crowd today.

"Does it look like a rock?" "No, it looks like a face" "Is it a face?" "It's a rock that looks like a face!"

"Grunkle Stan, over here!" said Dipper who was getting a bit exhausted. Up and down, poking through the crowd just to get his attention. "Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan!"

"For the fifth time! It's not an actual face! It's a rock…that looks like a face!"

"Stan! Stan!" Dipper said, still trying to get Grunkle Stan's attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wendy pull up in a golf cart. Getting tired of trying to get Grunkle Stan's attention, Dipper starts running towards Wendy; if he can't get Stan to help out, he'll just have to do it himself. "Wendy!" Dipper said, "I need to borrow the golf cart so I can save my sister from a zombie!" With no questions asked, Wendy took out the golf cart key for Dipper.

"Try not to hit any-"

"Thank you, Wendy!" said Jason as he ran past Wendy and headed towards the golf cart; snatching the key from her hand as he passed her. Instead of asking Jason where he suddenly came from, or why he's taking the golf cart, he hopped into the golf cart with him and buckled up; Dipper sat in the passenger seat while Jason sat on the driver's side.

"Jason, do you even know where we're going?" asked Dipper. Without giving him an answer, Jason started the golf cart up and was already turning it around and heading towards where Mabel and Norman were at. But, just as they were about to leave, they were suddenly stopped by Soos who was carrying a shovel and a…baseball bat?

"This is for the zombies," Soos said as he handed Dipper the shovel. "And this is in case you see a pinata" After he handing Dipper the baseball bat, the two continued on with their drive towards Mabel and Norman; Jason pushing his foot hard on the gas pedal.

"So, Jason," said Dipper, "Why do you want to help me out? Nobody seems to believe me, except Soos, and I'm just some kid you hardly even know. So why would you help me?" Jason had to think about his answer _very_ carefully. If he said the wrong thing, he might accidentally tell the kid everything!

"Dipper, I do believe you," Jason said with a bit of a depressed look on his face. "To be honest, I've known about the weird stuff going on in Gravity Falls a bit longer than you have" When he looked over at Dipper, he saw how shocked the kid looked. "And as for why I'm helping you, it's because…you remind me of someone I once knew"

"You mean he was also awkward and sweaty?" asked Dipper, curious about what Jason said but also still a bit shocked by what he was telling him.

"No no no, Dipper," said Jason, trying to ignore Dipper mentioning his personal issues. "He was adventurous, willing to risk his life to save others, and absolutely-"

"HEEELLP!"

"Mabel!" screamed Dipper as he heard Mabel's cry for help. "Don't worry, Mabel! We'll save you from that zombie!" When they got closer, Jason spotted Mabel being tied up by…gnomes? And no sign of Norman anywhere. "Hold on!" yelled Dipper as Jason drove the golf cart through the tunnel leading towards the gnomes and Mabel.

"The more you struggle, the more awkward this is going to be for everybody!" said one gnome on top of a medium sized rock to make him seem taller. He had a tall, red pointy hat on top of his head, a blue shirt and dark blue pants. Unlike the other gnomes, this one was younger and had a brown colored beard. "Okay, just-just get her arm there, Steve!"

"What the heck is going on here?" said Dipper as he got out of the golf cart with a shovel in hand.

"Dipper!" Mabel screamed as she punched a gnome. "Norman turned out to be a bunch of gnomes! And they're total jer-AH! Hair! Hair!" She was stopped as a gnome grabbed hold of her hair and started pulling.

"Gnomes, huh? Boy, I was way off" Dipper said as he started looking through the journal. Jason, however, was doing nothing except watching Mabel get strapped down by gnomes again.

' _Wait…I've seen this before'_ Jason thought to himself as he watched the scene play before him. ' _Come on! Remember already!'_ He was really starting to get frustrated at this point.

"Your sister isn't in any _real_ danger," said the young gnome to Dipper, "She's just marrying all one thousand of us and becoming our Gnome Queen for all eternity! Isn't that right ho-"

"What's your name?"

"Huh?" the gnome said as he turned his head towards Jason. "My name? Jeff, of course! Jeffrey Gnome!" Both he, Dipper and Mabel was confused as Jason suddenly grabbed hold of his head and let out screams of agony.

"Mabel let's get out of here!" Dipper said with a worried look on his expression. Jeff was about to say something but was interrupted as Dipper lifted him up with the shovel and tossed him aside. Once he got Mabel free the two quickly helped Jason back to the golf cart. Because Jason was unable to drive, Dipper had to do it. And also, because the golf cart was a two-seater, Mabel, and Jason had to squeeze into one seat. Once they were buckled in, they high-tailed it outta there! While Jason's headache was happening, shaded scenes were playing inside his head.

" _ **We're stronger than you think, -…!" "Nice to meet you two!" "Shmebulock!" "We've been doing this longer than you think" "Nice necklace you've got there, kid!" "Jason and-… huh?" "Jason! Make sure you and-… come around more often!"**_

"It's going to be okay," Mabel said to Jason, doing her best to help him stay calm. When she looked behind her, she could have sworn she saw the gnomes. "Hurry, before they come after us!" she said as she whipped her head towards Dipper.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about it, Mabel," said Dipper, "You saw their little legs. Plus the little suckers are tiny!"

"They're stronger than you think, Dipper," said Jason, having recovered from his massive headache. "Gnomes are not to be messed with. While they may be small in size, they are powerful when they-" He was interrupted by the sound of something BIG, stomping their way up behind the trio.

"Whoa!" said Dipper as he hit the brakes on the golf cart, almost flying forward if it weren't for the seatbelts. When the trio turned their heads towards the source of the sound, they saw a monster that was made up of all of the gnomes in the forest; It was bigger than the Mystery Shack itself!

"Floor it, Dipper!" said Jason as the Gnome Monster roared behind them. Not needing to be told twice, Dipper drove as fast as he could towards the Mystery Shack and away from the monster behind him. When Jason looked behind him, he noticed that the monster was getting closer to him and the kids. ' _Even in while_ _we're in this thing it still manages to catch up'_ Jason thought to him as he watched the monster get closer. He then noticed the monster reach into its chest and pull out something. "Uh, Dipper?" said Jason, "I suggest you get ready for what's about to happen" Before Dipper could say anything, the monster threw gnomes at the golf cart.

"Jason, what's going to ha-AHHH!" Dipper was suddenly interrupted by gnomes landing on the golf cart and attacking them. One was chewing up the top of it, one was hanging on the top edge on Mable's side of the golf cart, they were everywhere!

"I got it!" said Jason as he punched the top of the golf cart a bit hard, sending a gnome flying. He grabbed hold of one behind Dipper that was about to attack him. "I'm sorry about this, Shmebulock," He said before throwing the gnome into the woods out the right side of the golf cart; making sure that he didn't hit Mabel's head. A gnome jumped out from out of nowhere and landed on top of the roof of the golf cart. As soon as he landed, he jumped onto Dipper's face and started scratching him as if he were trying to scratch his face off.

"I'll save you Dipper!" said Mabel as she started punching the gnome attacking her brother's face. Jason, of course, made sure to lean back as best as he could so that the girl would be able to punch the gnome as much as she could. With enough punches, the gnome finally came off with Dipper's hat in his mouth.

"Thanks, Mabel," Dipper said, a bit weak from the recent gnome attack. From behind, the Gnome Monster picked up a nearby pine tree and threw it in the direction they were going. When they looked up, they say a large pine tree fly over their golf cart and then wedge itself in between a boulder and another pine tree.

"Look out!" yelled Jason as the tree landed in front of them. Dipper did his best to try and steer away from it and try to not crash, but it was difficult considering how fast they've been going. After many hard turns, the golf cart slid and turned over in front of the Mystery Shack. Only Dipper and Mabel were still in the golf cart; Jason was the only one that fell out of the golf cart.

"Man, those people who say seat belts save lives are liars" Said Jason, who was laying up against the wall of the Mystery Shack; covered in dirt and some scratches. "Well, maybe not all of them are liars" As soon as he got back up onto his feet, Jason walked over to the golf cart and pulled them out of the golf cart; helping them back onto their feet as well.

"Thanks, Jason," said Dipper as he got back up to his feet. When he looked up at Jason, noticed he was looking at something. When he turned his head towards where Jason was looking, all he saw was some bushes with the forest behind it. "What are you looking at?" asked Dipper.

"Nothing, Dipper," said Jason, "I thought…I thought I saw someone" He suddenly felt something tugging on his shirt. When he looked down, he saw Mabel tugging on his shirt while staring at something in front of her. "What are you looking at…oh" When he turned his head in the direction of where Mabel was facing, he was reminded of what their current situation was; the gnomes.

"Stay back man!" Dipper yelled at the Gnome try and stop it, Dipper picks his shovel off of the ground and throws it at the monster. It proved ineffective as the monster just swats it away like a fly. The two twins screamed as the monster let out a fearsome roar! "Where's Grunkle Stan?" Said con-man was busy distracting his customers inside the Mystery Shack with something called, "The World's Most Distracting Object!"

"There's no way out of this, kids!" Jeff said as the monster walked closer to them; Jeff standing on the very top of the monster. "Mabel marry us before we do something crazy!" Both Jason and Dipper needed to think of a way out of this. Jason could either talk the gnomes out of doing this, or Mabel could allow herself to be taken away.

"Come on, Jeffrey," said Jason as he stepped in front of Dipper and Mabel. "Do you really want to do this? If this is about me never visiting you guys, then I'm sorry!" When he looked at Jeff's face, he could tell that he was confused about the stuff he was saying. "Don't remember me, do ya? I know how you feel. Can't really remember much either! So if you could maybe not do this again and-"

"I'll do it"

"…wait what?" Did he hear Mabel right? Did she say that she would actually go with them? "Mind repeating that again, kiddo? I think I'm hearing things" When he asked her to repeat herself, she said the exact same thing. "Yep…that's what I thought you said"

"Mabel, what do you think you're doing?!" Dipper said, completely shocked at what he's hearing. "This is absolutely crazy! You'll be their Gnome Queen for all eternity!"

"Dipper, just this once," Mabel said, "Trust me!" Deciding to trust her on this one, both Dipper and Jason backed away from Mabel as she walked up to the Gnome Monster. "All right, Jeff," she said, "I'll marry you"

"Hot dog!" exclaimed Jeffrey, slapping his knee making the monster slap its knee. "Thank you, Mabel! Now just let me get down there so we can do this" As Mabel waited patiently, Jeff climbed down what seemed like a tower of gnomes. "Help me down there, Jason. Thanks. Careful with that left foot, Andy. Watch those fingers, Mike!" After he finally got all the way down to the bottom, he rushed all the way towards Mabel with a small box in his hand.

"Are you sure about this, Mabel?" asked Jason, with a worried expression on his face. Not even bothering to give him an answer, the girl decided to continue on with the marriage proposal. After Mabel placed her hand out, Jeff took the ring out of the box and placed it on Mabel's ring finger. The wedding ring, instead of a diamond, had crystals on it.

"Badabing! Badabam!" said Jeff as he did a little jig in place. He turned around in the direction towards the forest. "Alright honey, let's get you back home and get the ceremony started-"

"You may now kiss the bride"

"Well then," Jeff said, a little surprised but happy also. "Don't mind if I do!" Jeff turned around, leaned forward towards Mabel, and puckered his lips. After Jeff closed his eyes, Mabel grabbed hold of the leaf blower behind her and pulled back the switch on it; turning the leaf blower on.

' _Well well, the kid had a plan after all'_ Jason thought to himself, with a small grin on his face as he watched Jeff get shot out of the leaf blower into the Gnome Monster, making it explode. Gnomes were laying all around them; bruised and defeated. Using the blow function on the leaf blower, Mabel chased the gnomes away by threatening to blow them clear across the forest like their leader with the leaf blower. They all got away except for one, who got his leg and arm stuck in a six-pack ring. The kids and Jason stepped inside, into the gift shop, as the gnome was being carried away by a nearby goat.

* * *

 _ **-Inside The Gift Shop-**_

"Geez, what happened to you three?" Said Grunkle Stan, who was behind the counter counting the cash from the register. "Did you get hit by a bus or something? Ha!" The two tired twins, having had enough for today, started walking towards their bedroom. When he looked at the three and saw at how gloomy they looked, he decided…showing them some kindness wouldn't hurt. "Uh hey! W-Wouldn't you know it? I accidently overstocked some inventory. So, how about each of you take one item from the gift shop? On the house" Jason, who was just about to leave, turned his head towards Grunkle Stan.

"What's the catch, Stan?" said Jason out of curiosity. While Mabel already wanted to get something, Jason didn't want to get anything without knowing what the catch is first.

"The catch is take something before I change my mind. Now pick something out" Grunkle Stan said as he put aside the already counted money. Jason watched from the doorway as the kids looked and looked through the items in the gift shop. Dipper found a blue baseball cap with a blue pine tree on it, and Mabel found a…

"Grappling Hook!" shouted Mabel as she raised the grappling hook gun. she held in her hand high up in the air. When Jason watched Mabel do this, he could have sworn he heard triumphant music playing.

"Looks like Mabel found a grappling hook!" Jason said for some strange reason. "Ahem, Mabel wouldn't you rather have a doll?" After he said this, Mabel pulled the trigger on the grappling hook gun; making it shoot the iron claw out of it, with the rope still attached, and start wrapping itself around the wooden beam above Mabel. Pushing a button on the back of it, Mabel was pulled upwards towards the ceiling; dangling from the ceiling with her hand still gripping the grappling hook gun.

"Grappling Hook!"

"Fair enough!" said Jason as he let out a yawn. "Alright, I'm gonna head on home now. G'night you guys!" He stepped out of the gift shop and started his long walk towards home. "Oh, Gravity Falls!" said Jason as he walked through town, getting closer towards where he lives. "What is it about you that makes me always want to come back?"

As he passed by an alleyway, he thought he saw a black motorcycle in the middle of an alleyway. Making sure he wasn't just seeing things, he walked back to the alleyway…only to find no sign of the motorcycle. "Oh great," Jason said, "I'm so tired that I'm starting to see things"

* * *

 _ **-Several Minutes Later-**_

After several minutes of walking, he finally reached his home; a small, red apartment complex that was two buildings away from the Gravity Falls church.

"It's not much," Jason said, "But it _definitely_ beats the first place I lived in" Once he opened the door, he stepped into the building and started walking towards his room; making sure to close the door behind him as he comes into the building. For some reason, he decided to get his room on the first floor instead of the second floor. He kept thinking to himself, ' _I'm gonna sleep in a room on the second floor!'_ And yet here he is, looking for his room on the first floor. After spending some times looking for his room, he finally came upon his door; _117_.

"Now to finally get some sleep!" said Jason as he pulled his room key out from his pocket and unlocked his apartment. After opening the door, Jason stepped into his "lovely" little home. After stepping inside and closing the door behind him, the young man got some well deserved sleep.

 **ILUVW GDB=ZHLUGQHVV DQG PHPRUB ORVV**


	3. Release the Gobblewonker!

A few days had already passed since Jason started working at the Mystery Shack. He cleaned floors and shelved snow globes during the daytime, and helped Stanley out with the portal during the night; this was his life now. It was 5:56 AM today in Gravity Falls and everyone was still asleep; everyone except for Jason. Laying in his bed awake, with his blanket already thrown onto the bedroom floor, was a quite unhappy young man.

"Can't I go at least one month without being woken up by nightmares?" asked Jason, talking to no one. Every time he went back to sleep, he would be woken up by the same nightmare he's had for months. He closed his eyes as the memory of his recent flashback played in his mind.

" _You can't do this to me!" said Jason, who was sitting on the sidewalk in front of his parent's house; looking up at his parents who were standing in the doorway looking down at Jason with a hateful look on their faces. "I thought we were family! Are you really going to kick me out be-"_

"I need to move on already," Jason said, "They're out of my life! But still…the day it happened can't be easily forgotten" He had to wait a while before any of the stores opened since it was still early in the day. While he waited, he thought about the events that happened a few days ago. Him getting a job at the Mystery Shack, Dipper finding one of Ford's journals, Mabel getting a boyfriend that turned out to be a bunch of gnomes, they fought the gnomes, and then they went to bed. Well, Jason went and slept in his _own_ bed back at the apartment complex.

"Wait a minute," Jason said as he remembered something. "I think there was something else! But what was it…?" Going back through the memories of events that happened yesterday, Jason remembered something that happened when he and Dipper encountered the gnomes.

"Let's see…" Jason said as he started thinking, "We went to their hideout, we found Mabel being tied up by a bunch of gnomes, and then Jeffrey said something that-" A thought suddenly occurred to him as he said that. "Jeffrey…I didn't remember him and the gnomes until-"

 _ **BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT!**_

"Huh?" said Jason, as he turned his head towards his black nightstand, which stood on the left side of his bed. On top of his nightstand was his phone, vibrating as the screen lit up; he decided to switch from his flip phone to one of those fancy smartphones. "Who could be calling me at…5:59 in the morning?" Jason said as he picked his phone up from the nightstand. Not even bothering to look at the phone number, Jason hits answer on the touchscreen. "Who is-"

"Sup dude! Mr. Pines just wanted me to tell you that-"

"Soos," Jason said, a bit annoyed and confused at the same time. "You mind telling me how you know my phone number? Also, where are you calling me from?" Soos told him that Mabel gave Soos Jason's phone number. How the girl got a hold of his number he'll never know; not even Soos knows. Soos also told Jason that he was calling him from his house. "Alright Soos," said Jason, "So what were you saying? You were saying something about Stan but then I interrupted you"

"Oh right," Soos said, "Mr. Pines wanted me to tell you that he, Dipper and Mabel are going on a fishing trip today. Enjoy your day off, dude" After that, Jason heard a click on his end. With a low grumble, he set the phone down on the nightstand and sat up in the king sized bed he laid in every night. Out of all the other rooms in the buildings, he somehow got the one that had the bigger bed. Why his bedroom had a king sized one he'll probably never know. The bed had black bedsheets, large black blankets, and a few black blankets.

"Yeah sure," Jason said, with a bit of sarcasm in his tone. "Enjoy my day off. Because my morning is already going so well!" After doing a quick stretch he stepped out of bed and started walking towards his bathroom. His bedroom was sort of like any other room in an apartment complex. On the left side of his room was his black, wooden nightstand that had his cell phone and lamp. On the right side of his room was his brown wooden dresser that stood up against the wall. Hanging up on the wall next to his dresser was a black single strap backpack. The hallway, connecting both his bedroom and living room together, had a door on the side wall that leads to his bathroom.

"Alright," Jason said as he opened the door to his bathroom and stepped inside. "Let's get this day started" After the guy got all brushed and ready for the day, he headed out the door to the open world; making sure that he closed the door behind him and locked it. Once he got outside, he decided that he'd walk around town for a bit. "So let's see…" He said as he checked the time on his phone "It's 6:01 so there's got to be at least some places that are open" While he was walking around he passed by a black motorcycle that was parked in between two cars. Jason stopped as soon as he passed by it. But, when he turned to look at the motorcycle, it was gone.

 _ **BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT! BZZZT!**_

"W-What? Again?" Jason said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. When he looked at his phone it was an unknown number. "Who else did that kid give my number to?" Not wanting to keep them waiting, he hit answer on his phone. "Who is i-"

"Oh hey man," said Wendy, sounding like she had just woken up. "What's up?"

"Wendy how did…no wait let me guess," Jason said, sounding a bit annoyed. "Mabel gave you my phone number, didn't she?" When he sees Mabel, he's going to talk to her about how she shouldn't share his phone number with others without him knowing. He was also going to ask her how she got his phone number in the first place. "I'm fine, Wendy," he said as he started walking towards a coffee shop which was just a few miles away from him. "I thought I'd grab myself some coffee and-"

"Wait! Can you get me some please?" asked Wendy, still sounding really tired. "Our family doesn't have a coffee maker and I'm too tired to get up and buy myself some" During the time he spent working with the people at the Mystery shack, Jason only bothered to learn two things about them; their names and how old they are. The only person at the shack he knew more about was Stanley.

"You're too tired to get yourself a coffee," Jason started, "But apparently not too tired to pick up your phone and call me?" He could easily tell her no and just go on with his day. But, his day did include nothing but walking around the town and maybe buying something from a store. "Alright I'll do it," said Jason, "Tell me where you live and what kind of coffee you want. I'll arrive with your coffee in...who knows how many minutes" After Wendy told him where she lived and what kind of coffee she wanted, she ended the phone call. After putting his cell phone back into his pocket, Jason started heading towards the coffee shop.

* * *

 _ **-Outside the Gravity Shack-**_

"Alright you two," said Grunkle Stan, "Ready for what I've got planned for us?" Stan was sitting in the driver's seat of a red convertible that had a white roof and a license plate that said STNLYMBL on it. Sitting in the backseat of Grunkle Stan's car was Dipper and Mabel with blindfolds on.

"Grunkle Stan," Dipper started, "It's kind of hard to be prepared for something if we don't know what it is. And what's up with these blindfolds?" Stan didn't tell the kids where they were going, or what he had planned for them. All he told them was to put blindfolds on and get into his car.

"It's a surprise," Stan said before he started up his car and drove off; away from the Mystery Shack and towards whatever it was that he had in store for them.

* * *

 _ **-Meanwhile-**_

Jason had only a mile left before he got to the coffee shop. He was just going to get his, and Wendy's coffee, and get his day started, or at least think of something that involved more than possibly buying something at a store. However, as he got closer to the coffee shop, he passed by an alleyway. He stopped as he saw a black motorcycle parked in the alleyway out of the corner of his eye; the same black motorcycle he saw last night and has been seeing every now and then on his way over to the coffee shop.

"This is getting annoying," Jason said to himself before he started walking towards the motorcycle. When he got closer to it, he got a closer look at the mysterious motorcycle. It was a sportbike that was almost completely covered in a pitch-black color. "Where did this thing come from?" Jason asked, thinking out loud to himself. As he was standing there, staring at the motorcycle, he couldn't help but notice that there was something familiar about it. "I wonder…" He said to himself before he hopped up onto the seat and grabbed hold of the handlebars. "Hmmm...wait this thing has no-"

 _ **VROOOM!**_

"Who's there?" Jason said as he started looking around for the source of the noise. "Who's...wait. No, it can't be" He slowly climbed off of the motorcycle and took a small step away from it. He stood there and waited patiently for something to happen. "Maybe it was-" _**VROOOM!**_ He was interrupted by the same sound that he heard a few seconds ago. "Okay…" He said to himself, "Not my imagination after all" He hopped back up onto the seat and hold of the handlebars. He could figure out where this motorcycle came from, but he had some other stuff he needed to focus on more; and with a motorcycle as his new ride, it might help get things done faster. "Okay coffee shop, here I come!" He said to himself, finally ready to get the day started.

* * *

 _ **-12 MINUTES LATER-**_

"Why the heck does she live all the way out here?" Jason said to himself as he was driving up the long dirt path that leads towards Wendy's house; a house that was built in the woods. When he finally got to her house, he got a good look at Wendy's house. It was a log cabin that had a green metal roof on top, a red recliner on the right side of the porch and a big motorhome on the left side of the lawn. After he parked his motorcycle by the porch, Jason walked up the stairs and gave the front door a few knocks. After he knocked on her door, he placed Wendy's coffee in front of her door and drove off on his motorcycle. The cup Wendy's coffee was in measured to be about 6 and a half inches tall, made of plastic and had one of those non-spill lids. On top of the lid, Jason left a sticky note that read, " _Coffee with Cream & Sugar. -Jason"_

* * *

 _ **-Lake Gravity Falls-**_

It's opening day for Fishing Season here at Lake Gravity Falls. The people here are having fun and fishing...well at least they're having fun. Grunkle Stan brought Dipper and Mabel here because he thought it'd be a good way for them to bond; he also wanted to make up for the last time they tried family bonding. However, the twins were still not sure about this and would rather be at home.

"Hey, I know what'll cheer you little sad sacks up! Pow!" Grunkle Stan said before he slapped a fishing hat onto both Dipper and Mabel. They took the hats off of their heads to look at them and noticed each hat had their names hand stitched with a letter falling off of Mabel's hat. "Pines Family Fishing' Hats!" Grunkle Stan said with pride in his voice. "That's hand-stitching, ya know. It's just gonna be you, me, and those goofy hats on a boat for 10 hours!"

"10 HOURS?!" Dipper exclaimed, shocked by what he was hearing.

"I've brought the joke book!" Said Grunkle Stan as he pulled out a book that read " _1001 Yuk 'Em Ups"_ on it. As soon as Dipper saw the book, he recoiled in fear as if it were the stuff of nightmares. "Come on, kids!" Said Grunkle Stan, "Let's go!"

"No! NO!" "There has to be-"

 _ **VROOOOOOOM!**_

"Hu?" All three of them said as they suddenly heard the roaring sound of an engine fly past over their heads. They didn't see what it was, until the source of what was making that sound landed behind Grunkle Stan. They turned their heads towards it and saw a pitch-black motorcycle with Jason riding on top of it.

"Yo~! What did I miss, people?" said Jason before he climbed off of the seat of his motorcycle. When he looked at the three who were still by the car, he couldn't help but notice the surprised look on their faces. "What did I do?" he asked, "Well I guess I did-"

"I SEEN IT! I SEEN IT AGAIN!"

Everyone turned their heads towards the source of the sudden outburst. It was an old hillbilly that was running around, knocking stuff over and for some reason a sandwich out of a man's hands. He wore an old brown hat and brown overalls, which was covered up by his long white beard. On his right arm, he wore a cast and bandages around his feet.

"The Gravity Falls Gobblewonker!" The old man said, "Come quick before it scram doodles away!" After he said that, the hillbilly started doing a little jig for some strange reason. While everyone was watching him, Jason was busy thinking about whether or not it was a good idea to come here.

"Awww," Mabel said as she watched the old man dance around. "He's doing a happy jig!"

"NOOO! It's a jig of great danger!"

' _Why did I bother coming here?'_ Jason thought to himself, not paying attention to what's going on anymore. ' _I should've stayed in bed and gone back to sleep. It's just some crazy old man screaming his head off about a monster...called the Gobblewonker'_ He quickly brought his attention back to reality and saw Stan sitting in a poorly constructed fishing boat with Dipper and Mabel standing on the dock.

"Mabel," Dipper said with excitement in his voice. "Did you hear what that old dude said?"

" _Aw, donkey spittle!_ " "No, the other thing!" He said, "About the monster! If we can snag a photo of it, we could split the prize fifty-fifty!" There was a contest being held in Gravity Falls called the _Monster Photo Contest._ Whoever submitted the best photo of a monster, or something, won the grand prize of $1000.

"That's two fifties!" Mabel exclaimed.

"That's right, Mabel," said Jason, who was walking up to them from behind. "So what's going on?" They told him that they plan on getting a picture of the Gobblewonker on Scuttlebutt Island, and getting the prize money. Mabel told him that once they split the prize, she plans on buying a human-sized hamster ball. Dipper plans on saving his five hundred dollars for emergencies. "Well I hope you don't mind if I come along," said Jason.

"I don't see why not," said Dipper before he walked up next to Grunkle Stan, who was busy trying to untie the boat from the dock. "Grunkle Stan!" Dipper said, "Change of plans! We're taking that boat to Scuttlebutt Island, and we are gonna find that Gobblewonker!"

"Dipper? Mabel?" said Jason, "I don't think that...kids?" He was about to tell them that Grunkle Stan would probably prefer it if they stayed here. Plus, it wouldn't be safe to use that boat to get to the island; it might easily sink or fall apart before they get there. But they didn't hear a word he was saying because they were more focused on the mission at hand.

"Monster hunt!" chanted Dipper and Mabel, "Monster hunt! Mon-"

"Monster hunt! Monster...eh...I'll go!" said the old man who came out of nowhere before he left, going somewhere else. After he left, a boat horn sounded before a coble-boat pulled up on the other side of the dock with Soos behind the wheel.

"You dudes say something about a monster hunt?"

"Soos!" "What's up, Hambone?" they both said before they both fist bumped and then exploded their hands; making explosion sound effects afterward for some reason.

"Alright, let's think this through," said Grunkle Stan while he got out of his boat and climbed onto the dock. "You kids could go waste your time on some _epic_ _monster-fighting_ adventure, or you could spend the day learning how to tie knots and skewer worms with your Great Uncle Stan!" While the kids were thinking about which choice was more fun, Jason had already climbed onto the boat and was ready to go. "So what do you say-" Grunkle Stan was interrupted by the sound of them cheering and the boat's horn going off. "Ingrates!"

* * *

 _ **-15 Minutes Later-**_

"Mabel," Dipper said, "Leave that pelican alone" On their way over to the island, a pelican decided to visit them and land right on top of the railing of their ship. And for some reason, Mabel decided to use it as a ventriloquist dummy.

"Aw, I don't mind none!" said Mabel through the pelican; talking in a bit of a scratchy, goofy voice. "Hey look," said Mabel, talking in her normal voice with a glass of water in her hand. "I'm drinking water!" As soon as she started drinking the water, she tried her best to sing through the pelican.

" _Twinkle, Twinkle, Little-"_ COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!

"Aren't you supposed to be doing look out?" Dipper said, sounding a bit annoyed. While Dipper and Mabel were having their little conversation, Jason was busy writing in a small notebook that he kept in his bag.

"Let's see…" he mumbled to himself, "At first I didn't remember the gnomes, and now I do remember them. But why would I forget them?" The whole time on the way over to the island, Jason has been thinking about nothing but his encounter with the gnomes. "And Jeff," he said, "I remember him talking to me and...and..." He had no idea who the other person Jeff was talking to, and he couldn't remember that person's name or face no matter how hard he tried!

' _Ford…I_ _need your h-'_

CRASH! "WHOA!" they all yelled as they felt the boat hit the shore and somehow tip forward a little. The twins were at the very front of the boat while both Soos and Jason were holding onto the sides like their lives depended on it.

"See?" Mabel said, "We're here! I'm a lookout genius! Hamster ball, here we come!" After they recovered, they all climbed out of the boat one by one. Jason, before he got out of the boat, quickly tossed the notebook back into his backpack and zipped it up before the others could see it. After he picked his bag up, he hopped off of the boat and joined the others.

The four of them had finally reached the island and were now in search of the elusive Gobblewonker. They stopped, however, when they came upon a large sign that read _Scuttlebutt Island._

"Dude, check it out," Soos said before he covered up half of the sign with one of his arms. " _Butt Island_ " This earned him a slight giggle from Mabel, and a groan from Jason. "Hey look!" said Soos as he pointed towards a piece of paper taped to a tree. "What does it say?"

"Let me see…" Jason said as he pulled it off of the tree and began reading it. " ' _Don't look...or it takes you!'_ " After he finished reading, he looked up and saw Soos with a bit of a terrified look on his face. "Hang on," Jason said, "There's more. ' _P. S. Hope you enjoyed the time you've wasted on this overused reference'_ "

* * *

 _ **-Few Minutes Later-**_

"Hey Mabel," Jason said, "I've been meaning to ask you something" When she heard her name, Mabel turned her head towards Jason. "How did you get a hold of my phone number? Soos called me earlier this morning and he said that he got my number from you"

"I got it from your phone, of course!" Mabel said, with a smile on her face. "You left it on the counter so I got it before anyone else did!" Jason could not believe what he was hearing. "It took a few tries before I finally got into your phone," said Mabel.

"Mabel…" said Jason, "Thank you for telling me this. You only shared my phone number with Soos and Wendy, right?" She was just about to answer Jason when-

 _ **GROOOOOWL!**_

"Guys! This is it!" said Dipper with excitement in his voice. Both him and Mabel walked towards where the sound was coming from, with Soos and Jason following behind; Soos held in his hands a big stick to help take down the monster if needed. When they got closer to where the sound was coming from, they suddenly stopped when they spotted something through the fog that surrounded the lake. It was a silhouette of a large lake monster floating in the water. As soon as they saw it, they quickly ducked behind the nearest log they could find.

"I don't know, Dipper," said Jason, "I don't think that-"

"No," Dipper said, whispering so that the monster doesn't hear him. "We're not wasting this opportunity. Now everyone, get your cameras ready" Everyone turned their cameras on; Soos gave him a thumbs up, despite the camera being backward, while Mabel seemed way too happy about all this. "Ready? GO" As soon as he said go, Soos hopped over the log and ran towards the monster; yelling and snapping pictures of himself as he ran towards the monster. It wouldn't be so bad if the flash had been turned off.

"WHAAA!" CLICK! CLICK! "AAAAAAH!" CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

The others followed him until they all came to a stop on top of a small cliff. As they got closer to the lake, they get a closer look at the lake monster. When they do, they notice that it's not the Gobblewonker...but a wrecked boat; with beavers living on it no less!

"B-But what was that noise then?" asked a very confused Dipper. "I heard a monster noise" Right after he said that they heard the same growling sound they've been hearing ever since they came to the island. As soon as they turned their heads in the direction of where the sound was coming from, they saw a beaver sitting on a log with an active chainsaw.

"Sweet!" Soos said, "Beaver with a chainsaw" Afterward he started taking pictures of it.

"Maybe that old guy was crazy after all" "He did use the word, ' _Scrapdoodle'_ "

"Hey kids," said Jason, "I'm as disappointed as you are. Soos...I don't know about him" When he looked over at Soos, he saw that he was taking pictures of a few beavers that did a few poses for him. "When I heard the old guy talking about a monster," said Jason as he turned his head back towards the kids. "I couldn't help but join you guys to go looking for it"

"What are we going to tell Grunkle Stan?" said Dipper as he hopped down from the cliff and onto a rock sticking out of the water, sitting down on top of it. "We ditched him over nothing!" He picked up a nearby stone and instead of skipping it, he threw it into the water. Suddenly, the rock Dipper sat on began to shake. "Hey, do you guys feel that?" Dipper asked the others.

"Feel what-"

Before Dipper could tell them, the rock under him quickly sinks into the water and he drops into the water. The others quickly rush over and pull him up as he swims to shore. As they help him up, behind Dipper they saw a silhouette of something big swimming away.

"This is it!" said Dipper as he took out his camera and started taking pictures of the monster. While he was taking pictures of it, the monster was turning around and swimming towards them. "Come on," he said, "This is our chance!" When he looked over his shoulder, he saw that he was the only one taking pictures. Soos and Mabel were just standing there, terrified as they watched the monster come closer and closer. Jason though was more happy than scared. "What's wrong with you guys?" said Dipper after he turned around to face them; oblivious to the monster behind him slowly emerging from the water. As the monster emerged from the water, both Soos and Mabel were slowly walking backward away from it.

"Hey Dipper," said Jason, "You should probably turn around!" After Jason said that, Dipper turned around and saw the monster they've been looking for; the Gobblewonker. It had a long neck like a giraffe, teal colored wrinkly skin, and bright yellow eyes. It had two sharp tusks along with other sharp teeth, short legs with webbed feet, and a tail with a fish fin on the end of it. On its back, it had a semi-short mane like a horse's that ran down its back.

 _ **ROOOAARRR!**_

"RUN!" Soos screamed before he, Mabel and Jason started running away from the Gobblewonker with Dipper following behind them. As soon as they started running, the monster began chasing after the scared adventurers. While it was chasing after them, it hit its head hard against a tree and knocked it down. It would've landed on Mabel if Dipper had not pushed her out of the way; luckily, the tree missed both of them when it landed.

"Get back to the boat!" screamed Jason. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw the Gobblewonker lean its head towards Mabel with its jaws wide open. Before it could clamp its jaws shut on Mabel, Jason quickly picked her up and placed her on his back. While they were still running, Dipper turned halfway with the camera still in hand and took a picture of the Gobblewonker.

"Ha! I got i-WHA!" Dipper said before he tripped over a root and dropped the camera. He quickly stopped when he saw that the camera he dropped was getting closer and closer to being crushed by the Gobblewonker. "The picture!" Dipper exclaimed! He was about to go get it when Soos picked him up by the back of the shirt and started running towards shore where their boat was.

"Dude if it makes you feel any better," said Soos, "I got tons of pictures of those beavers, dude!" While he was talking to him, he was also running and holding up Dipper in front of him by the back of his shirt at the same time.

"Why would that make me feel any better?!"

"Worry more about surviving and less about the picture!" said Jason, who was a little ahead of the two. Once they got to the boat, they quickly hopped on ready to hightail it outta there. Once they were all in, Soos started up the boat and started backing it up quickly away from the island with the Gobblewonker still after them.

"Alright, this is it!" Dipper said as he pulled out a spare camera from his lifejacket. They brought seventeen before they came, but due to unforeseen circumstances they lost several of them. "Cracked lens?!" Dipper exclaimed, "Soos, get a photo!" When he looked over at Soos, he saw that he was throwing cameras at the monster instead of taking a picture of it. "What are you doing?!"

"Oh! I still got one left" Soos said after he stopped throwing cameras at the Gobblewonker. "Don't worry, dude. Here!" Soos then threw the camera at Dipper, but he missed and the camera hit the boat's control cabin; the camera broke as soon as it made an impact with the control cabin.

* * *

 _ **-Meanwhile-**_

"Er...ugh, gah!" said Grunkle Stan, who was sitting in his boat having a difficult time untangling his fishing wire. "Mollycoddling-"

"Can you please tell us _more_ funny stories, Pop-Pop?" said a little boy from a boat across from where Stan was. Right next to the boy was a little girl that looked to be as young as he was. The kids looked sort of like Dipper and Mabel if they were still in preschool. Pop-Pop looked like one of those kind, loving uncles you usually see on TV.

"Anything for my fishing buddies!" said Pop-Pop, before he gave his grandson a gentle pat on the head "Ho ho ho ho!" Unbeknownst to him, Grunkle Stan was staring daggers at him while they were having fun bonding as a family.

"Pop-Pop," said the little boy, "I just realized that…I wuv you"

"Aw, come on! Boo! Boo!" "H-Hey, now! What's the big-"

"Hi, Stan! See ya Stan!" Jason said as the boat drove past Grunkle Stan. The Gobblewonker, still following behind the others, swam past him and the people that Grunkle Stan was talking to. "Sorry!" said Jason as he looked at him and saw that when the Gobblewonker passed by, he made a big wave that got both Grunkle Stan and the other people completely wet.

"Soos! Beavers!" Dipper said as he pointed towards the same wrecked ship and beavers from before. While they were trying to get away from the Gobblewonker, they must have driven around in a circle and ended up back to where they found they found the beavers. Soos tried steering the boat away from the beavers, but he turned too hard and ended up crashing into the wrecked boat; sending the beavers flying high up before they come back down and land on top of the boat.

"Again with this?!" exclaimed Jason as he saw the beavers start attacking the boat while it continued to drive away from the Gobblewonker. However, unlike last time, they were being attacked by beavers. There were two beavers biting down on Dipper's head and one was attached to Mabel's arm; there was even one attacking Jason's left leg. "No, wait! Ow!" he yelled in pain as a beaver bit down on his leg, before he pulled it off and threw it into the water. "This is different!" He rushed over to the kids and quickly pulled the beavers off of them.

"AHHH!" Soos screamed as a beaver lunged at him and attached itself to his face, making him stumble away from the steering wheel. After she saw Soos stumble away from the steering wheel, Mabel quickly took control of it and steered away from the Gobblewonker. While Dipper was trying to remove a beaver from the side of the boat, Soos was running around in circles screaming in pain from the beaver still on his face.

"Dipper!" said Jason as he ran over to Dipper's side and grabbed hold of the beaver he was fighting against. They both started pulling hard on the beaver until it finally lost its grip and was pulled off the side of the boat. However, a second before the beaver lost its grip and was dislodged from the boat, Dipper lost his grip on it and the beaver went flying towards Jason.

"Uh oh!"

"Ow!" screamed Jason as the beaver came flying towards him and headbutt him hard before it fell and landed on the deck of the ship. He picked up the beaver by its tail and threw it off of the boat, while Dipper threw the other beavers off of the boat towards the Gobblewonker; said monster dived before the beavers could hit it and continued to chase the group underwater. "Hairy little mo-WHOA!" Jason was interrupted when the boat started rocking as Mabel drives around a bunch of people who are fishing; unfortunately, the people were overturned by the Gobblewonker chasing behind our group.

"Dad! Dad! Dad!" chanted a couple of boys who were watching their dad, a big red-bearded lumberjack, was putting a dead fish in a headlock. They were interrupted, however, when the Gobblewonker swam through and overturned their boat.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" said Jason as he lost his balance and fell backward; landing on his back and hit the back of his head hard on the deck of the boat. "...Ow" he said, not bothering to get back up. "Why is this happening to me?" It's a good thing he didn't get up because as soon as he fell down the Gobblewonker swiped at the boat and knocked off almost the entire top half of the boat; luckily the others ducked before the Gobblewonker could hit them. After they got some distance away from the Gobblewonker, Jason quickly got back up onto his feet.

"Where do I go?!" screamed Mabel, as she spotted a dead-end ahead of them. When he heard his sister, Dipper took a look at the dead-end they were speeding towards and saw a waterfall ahead of them. He quickly reached into his life vest, pulled out his journal and started flipping through the pages; looking for something that might help them.

"Um...uh…" Dipper said while he was busy flipping through the pages. He kept looking until he stopped on as he came up a page that looked helpful. "Go into the falls!" yelled Dipper, "I think there might be a cave behind there!"

"MIGHT BE?!" screamed Mabel. They all scream as the boat goes through the waterfall and into the cave behind. But, as soon as their boat enters the cave, the boat crashes and sends them flying into the dirt.

"I come here wanting to find a monster," Jason said as he slowly stood up, dusting himself off. "And I can't even fight back after I've finally found it" They all stood up after a while, dusted themselves off, and then turned around to see the Gobblewonker swim in after them. They screamed as they saw the monster come in after them. They closed their eyes and huddled in close as they waited for the Gobblewonker to attack them...but it didn't. When they opened their eyes, they saw that the Gobblewonker was stuck in the cave entrance.

"It's stuck!" Mabel said as she watched the Gobblewonker try to squeeze through the entrance; it's monstrous roar echoing through the caves. As the monster tried to squeeze through the entrance, stalactites began falling from the ceiling from the cave.

"Yeah! Wait...It's stuck?" said Dipper, realizing that this could be his last chance to get a picture of the Gobblewonker! They quickly run to the top of a nearby cliff to get a better view of it. "Yes!" Dipper said before he started searching around for a camera; but, he didn't have one!

"Boop!" Mabel said as she lifted her brother's hat, revealing a disposable camera on top of his head. After he took the camera off of his head, he started taking as many pictures as he could of the Gobblewonker! "Did you get a good one?" Mabel asked.

"They're all good ones!"

"Good," said Jason, as he watched the twins hug each other and cheer. "Now let's find a way out...of…" Now that they weren't running around scared for their lives, Jason had gotten a better look at the cave that they were in. He felt like he had been here before. Turning around, he headed towards a group of stalagmites by a wall that was all formed into half a circle. "It's here," Jason said, "Whatever it is...it's-"

 _ **CLANK! BZZT! BZZT! BZZZ…**_

"What the…" said a quite confused Dipper. He quickly climbed down the cliff and walked up to the Gobblewonker. "Huh?" said Dipper, because when he felt the skin of the Gobblewonker, he noticed that the skin didn't feel wrinkly at all! Out of curiosity, Dipper knocks on the Gobblewonker a few times. It makes a hollow metallic sound, something a creature of flesh and bone should not make; unless they have a metallic prosthesis or something. Wanting to a further investigation, Dipper started climbing up the monster.

"Careful, dude!"

"This can't be happening," said Jason, doing his best to not get angry; or at least not show how angry that he's angry. "We risked our lives just to get a picture of a monster...and it's not even real?" He turned his attention away from the fake monster and back to the group of stalagmites he found. Grabbing hold of one of the stalagmites, he pulled it down like it was a lever. Right after he did, he heard something move near his foot on his left. When he looked down, a rock that was right next to his foot had moved; revealing a hole with a small brown box in it.

"Hey, guys!" Dipper said as he climbed over the Gobblewonker and popped his head out from the other side. "Come check this out!" Jason, after picking up the small brown box and quickly hiding it in his backpack, joined the others as they climbed on top of the Gobblewonker.

Once the others got to the top of the Gobblewonker, they discover a handle sticking out of the top of a trapdoor. Curious as to who is driving this fake Gobblewonker, they turned the handle. As soon as they turn the handle, steam started to come out from the trapdoor. Then, as soon as they open the trapdoor, more steam came out; this time from inside the Gobblewonker. When they looked inside to see who was controlling it, they saw the crazy old man from before controlling a bunch of machines.

"Work the elbows and the...Eh?" said the old man as he looked up at the others and realized that he had been caught. "Awww, banjo polish!" Inside besides the machines was a bottle of moonshine, a banjo, a pile of coal, and a stick shift with an 8 ball shift knob.

"Wha-Yo-You?" Dipper said, "You made this? W-W-Why?" He wasn't the only one having a hard time believing this; the rest were having just of a hard time. Jason however...not much of a hard time. While he was listening to the conversation, he was also looking closely at the machines that controlled the Gobblewonker.

"Well I...I…uh" the old man said, doing his best to think up of an excuse. "...I just wanted attention" Thinking of nothing that would make a good excuse, he just told the truth.

"I still don't understand!"

"Well," the old hillbilly started, "First I just hootenannied up a biomechanical brainwave generator, and then I learned to operate a stick-shift with my beard!" As he said that, he somehow grabbed hold of the stick shift using his beard. While he was moving around, Jason was getting a better look at machines he was using to control the Gobblewonker.

"Okay yeah," Mabel said, "But _why_ did you do it?"

"Well, when you get to be an old fella like me," the hillbilly started, "Nobody pays any attention to you anymore. My own son hasn't visited me in months! So I figured maybe I'd catch his fancy with a fifteen-ton aquatic robot!" All of a sudden, the old man started laughing like a maniac; as if he was imagining himself building the Gobblewonker. After a while, he stopped laughing and continued with what he was saying. "In retrospect," he said, "It seems a bit contrived. You just don't know the length us old-timers go through for a little quality time with our family"

After he said that, Dipper and Mabel took off the fishing hats that Grunkle Stan gave them, and looked at the names he handstitched onto the hats. Their uncle brings them to the lake so they can go fishing together. And what do they do? They ditch him just to go hunt a monster that's not even real!

"Dude," Soos said, "I guess the real lake monster is you two. Heh heh!" He then realized what he just said, after Jason gave him an elbow in his sides. "Sorry!" Soos said, "That just like-boom-just popped into my head there"

"So..." Jason said, "Did you ever talk to your son about how you felt? Mister..." While Jason was curious about this guy's reason for what he did, and if he could help him out, knowing his name would be helpful too. Unfortunately…he only got one of the two questions answered.

"No sir," the old guy said, "I got to work straight on the robot!" After he said that, he pulled down on the stick shift and then a projector popped up from the top of the Gobblewonker, right next to the trapdoor entrance. Once it turned on, it showed blueprints of the Gobblewonker on the trapdoor. "I made lots of robots in my day," he said, holding a button in his hand. "Like when my wife left me and I created a homicidal pterodactyl-tron, or when my pal Ernie didn't come to my retirement party and I constructed an eighty ton _SHAME BOT_ THAT EXPLODED THE ENTIRE DOWNTOWN AREA!" Every time he pressed the button, the projector would show a different robot.

' _A crazy hillbilly who's a genius in mechanics'_ Jason thought to himself, ' _Not a good combination'_ It was at that moment he remembered something. He knew somebody that was the same as this guy. Well, almost the same as him.

"You know, Dipper," said Mabel, "You still have one roll of film left" Said person still had a camera in their hands. They couldn't submit the pictures they took for obvious reasons, and they still had enough film left for some more pictures.

"What should we do with it?" asked Dipper as they climbed down the Gobblewonker and walked back towards their boat. However, when they got halfway there, Jason stopped. He couldn't leave the island, not just yet. He needed to find something out.

"Hey, guys!" Jason shouted towards the others, who had already climbed onto the boat. "I'll be right there, I just gotta do something!" He quickly climbed back up the Gobblewonker and checked to see if the trapdoor was still open; luckily for him, it was and the old man was still working on his...death ray? "Sir?" Jason said, "Sir can I talk to you for a moment?" The old man, having heard him, stopped what he was doing and looked up at Jason. "Thank you," Jason said, "I didn't quite get your name. So would you mind te-"

"I'm Old Man Mcgucket!" the old man said, with a smile on his face.

"...Mcgucket?" Jason said, trying to comprehend what he just heard. "Mcgucket is that...is that really you?" He didn't say anything; he just kept smiling with one eye looking at Jason and the other eye going the other way. "Mcgucket…" Jason said, "Do you...know who I am?" Again, Mcgucket didn't say anything. "Mcgucket, it's Jason! Don't you remember?"

"Sorry feller!"

"Nothing?" Jason said, "Nothing at all? C-Come on, buddy! You gotta remember something!" Mcgucket just gave him the same response. "O-Okay…" He said, "Sorry to bother you" After he said that, he climbed down the Gobblewonker and join the others on the boat; keeping his head down the entire time so that they don't see his face. "Okay…" he said, "I'm ready now. We can go" They eventually did get out of the cave and started heading back towards home. Every now and then, on their way back, someone would ask if he was okay. And every time they did, he would say "I'm fine" or "Nothing's wrong with me" .

"Hey!" Dipper shouted, "Over here!" When Jason looked up, he saw the beat-up boat he was riding in, drive by and stop next to Stan's boat when it was halfway away from shore. As soon as it stopped, Dipper took a picture a picture of the mopey Grunkle Stan.

"What the-Kids?" Stan said, confused by this sudden appearance the two kids who decided to go spend time on another island instead of with him. "I thought you two were playing ' _Spin the Bottle'_ with Soos!"

"Well, we spent all day trying to find a 'legendary' dinosaur" "But we realized, the only dinosaur we wanna hang out with is right here" both Dipper and Mabel said, with comforting smiles on their faces.

Save your sympathy!" Grunkle Stan said, "I've been having a great time without you! Makin' friends, talkin' to my reflection, I even had a run-in with the lake police! Guess I gotta wear this ankle bracelet now, so that'll be fun" As he said that, he lifted his right leg showing the metal, beeping ankle bracelet.

"So I guess there isn't room in that boat for four more?" Dipper asked as he and Mabel put on their fishing hats. When he heard the kid say this, Jason looked at him a bit confused. Does he actually want him to join them? This is their family day! Next thing he knew, they were all climbing into Stan's boat.

"Come on, Jason," Mabel said, "There's room for at least one more person!" She waited a while for a response from him; but, there was none. He didn't move an inch from where he sat. "Jason?" she said, "Aren't you gonna come-"

"I need to be alone, Mabel," Jason said with a small smile on his face. "You have fun, though, but not too much fun" After he said that, he started back up the boat and drove the rest of the way back to shore. As soon as he got to shore, he hopped up onto his motorcycle and drove home. ' _I'm sorry Mabel,'_ he thought to himself, ' _But I can't have you finding out about me'_ Once he got home, and up to his apartment, as soon as he stepped into his bedroom he fell face first onto his bed; not bothering to take his shoes off or take his backpack off. As soon as he got to his bed...he let loose the tears he's been holding back ever since they left the cave. Ford was gone and Mcgucket didn't remember a thing about him. "Why…?" he said as he turned onto his side and got into a fetal position. "Why is this happening?"

"I'm all alone...Ford...Please come home!"

 **HMWETTSMRXQIRX ERH PSRIPMRIWW**

Two things. 1) I am so sorry that this is late! And 2) I was actually crying when I was thinking up of the ending for this chapter! Hope you guys, and girls, enjoy this and once again I'm sorry that this is late!


	4. Make New Friends But Keep The Old Ones

It was 3:00 PM today at the Mystery Shack with the regular amount of people coming in today. The museum tour was going well, there were no problems with the customers, and the employees were getting their jobs done. Everyone was fine and dandy...well, except for one person.

"Hey, Mabel?" Dipper said, "Do you notice anything different about Jason?" Jason was sweeping the floor and has been...for almost 10 minutes. His brown hair was a little messy and little bags under his tired blue eyes. "He's not his usual self," Dipper said, "Did something happen before we left the island yesterday?"

"I don't know…" Mabel said, "Maybe we should go talk to him" The two walked over towards the vending machine, where Jason was still sweeping for the past 10 minutes. "Hey Jason?" said Mabel, "Are you okay?" He didn't give her an answer, nor bother to look at her. "If this is about the phone thing," she said, "I'm so-"

"Mabel…" Jason said, "It's not that. Also, you shouldn't go looking through other people's stuff. Okay?" After he said this, he got a nod from Mabel. "I've just got a lot on my mind right now" His best friends are gone, there are parts of his past he can hardly remember, what can he do? He can't tell anyone anything unless he wants everything he's working so hard to go to waste. Mabel was about to say something, but Jason interrupted her before she could even let out a word. "Look you two," Jason said, "I know that you're only trying to help, but…" He slowly turned his head and saw the sad looks on their faces. "Kids," he said, "Just let me handle this on my own, okay? I'm going on break," He set the broom against the wall and then headed outside through the entrance of the gift shop.

"Hey, where's Wendy?"

* * *

 ** _-The Roof-_**

On the left side of the Mystery Shack, where the museum was located, there was a small platform on the roof that rested just above the attic window. On the platform was a cooler, a beach umbrella with a stand to keep it up, a lawn chair, and Wendy laying on it with her hands resting behind her head.

"I should probably head back in and get back to work," Wendy said as she sat up and stretched out her arms. "But…" She slowly stood up and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. "It wouldn't hurt to see how the guys are-"

"We'll meet again," a voice sang below Wendy, "Don't know where don't know when. But I know we'll meet again, some sunny day" When Wendy looked over the front edge of the platform to see who was singing, but she didn't see anyone. She looked over the other sides and spotted Jason leaning against the Mystery Shack and staring up at the sky.

"Hey, dude!" Wendy shouted, "What's up?" Jason lifted his head up and looked around for the person calling out to him. Who else could be out here other than him? "Up here!" said Wendy. Jason, after hearing Wendy call out to him, slowly turned his head towards the redhead; having a saddened look on his face. "Hey... " Wendy said, "You okay?" Jason, once again, gave her no response. Just as he was about to turn around and start heading back in, Wendy called out to him again. "Hey wait!" she said, "Come on up! There's a ladder you can use on the other-" She paused as she watched Jason start climbing up a nearby pine tree and jump across from the tree, onto the platform. "...Or that" Wendy said, "You could do that"

"Okay, I'm here," Jason said as he sat down next to Wendy, with his legs hanging off of the edge of the platform. "What do you want?" Wendy, after she sat down right next to him, offered him a soda from the cooler right next to the lawn chair. "Oh...thanks I guess," Jason said as he took the soda from Wendy's hand and opened it. "So what is it?"

"I just wanted to ask if you were okay," Wendy said, with a bit of a worried look on her face. Instead of giving her an answer, he turned his head away from her as he took a sip from his soda. "Come on," said Wendy, "You gotta at least tell someone" Once again, he gave Wendy the silent treatment. Wendy knew that they just couldn't stay up on the roof and drink soda. She could tell that just by looking at him that something happened to Jason and he was taking it pretty hard. The least she could do was help him out. "You don't want to talk about it," Wendy said, "That's okay. But you can't stay quiet and keep all that negative stuff locked in" As she kept talking, Jason started turning his head in her direction as he continued to listen to Wendy. "That's why you should tell at least one of your friends so-" She stopped when she saw Jason, who finally turned his attention back to her, was now looking down at the ground with tears in his eyes.

"Friends…" Jason said, "I-I had friends" He looked up when he felt Wendy place her hand on his back. "Sorry Wendy," he said, "That just came out of nowhere"

"It's okay," Wendy said, "There's nothing wrong with a guy crying. You feel better though?" Jason responded with a small nod to Wendy. "Good. People usually do when they let it all out" Jason was debating with himself whether or not he should tell her. He would feel better, but he might also tell her stuff that she shouldn't know! Then that would end up with exposing his identity, exposing Stan, and the whole project would be ruined!

"Well…" He said, still looking for the right answer. "Okay, I'll tell you. But, can you keep it a secret?" After he said that, he watched as Wendy zipped her lips and threw away what he assumed was a key. "I'm just going to assume that means that your lips are sealed," He said, getting a thumbs up from Wendy. If he was going to tell her, he had to make sure not to let ANYTHING slip; even though she promised not to tell anyone. "They were my two best friends named…" As he thought up of fake names for his friends, he shed a few more tears. "Rachel and Sean," Jason said, "We spent a lot of time together. Shared some laughs, did a lot of fun stuff, they were the greatest friends I could possibly have!" Unbeknownst to him, while he was talking about his friends, Jason was beginning to smile as he thought about all the good times he spent with Ford and Fiddleford. "But…" He said, his mood returning to what it was a minute ago as he kept going. "There was a bit of an argument that caused us to split up. I haven't seen or heard from them since then"

"Well, you could always call them up and…" Wendy said, stopping herself as she saw Jason's expression not changing one bit. "They're not around anymore, are they?" He shook his head to Wendy in response "I'm sorry," Wendy said, "I didn't know. Mind if I ask what happened?"

"They…" Jason said before setting aside his soda. "From what I was told last night, they died in a horrible car accident. I had other friends, but they're gone as well" After he was done, he rubbed out any remaining tears might have had using the palm of his right hand. "Thanks, Wendy," said Jason with a smile on his face, "That actually did make me feel better"

"Hey no problem," Wendy said before taking a sip from her soda. "Glad I could help. By the way, what was with that song?"

"Oh, that?" Jason asked, "It's an old one actually. It's from-Hm?" He stopped before he could finish, as he heard the sound of a vehicle close by start to pull up. When he turned his head in the direction of the sound, he saw a blue van parked sideways in front of the totem pole. "Friends of yours?" He asked Wendy.

"Wendy!" said a voice from the parked van. "Come on! Let's get outta here!"

"Just hang on!" Shouted Wendy towards the owner of the voice. "Hey Jason," She said as she turned her head towards Jason. "Promise you won't tell Stan about this?" In response to her question, Jason zipped his lips like Wendy showed him. After he did, Wendy doing so in return but did the "throw away the key" gesture afterward. "Thanks, man," she said, "Oh and if ever need someone to talk to, I'm always happy to lend an open ear" After she said that, she hopped onto the nearby pine trees and slide down it. Once she dropped down and her feet hit the dirt path, she rushed over and jumped into the van as it's side door slid open. Once she was in, the door closed and the van drove away to who knows where.

"I guess I'll head back in," Jason said as he hopped onto the pine tree and started climbing down.

* * *

 ** _-The Giftshop-_**

"We should probably go check on him," said Mabel as she started walking towards the gift shop's doorway. When she was a single step away from it, she stopped when she saw Jason walking up onto the front porch. When she saw him, she noticed that he didn't look all sad and gloomy anymore. "Oh hey, Jason!" said Mabel as she stepped aside, "I was just coming to check up on you!"

"That's okay, Mabel," Jason said as he stepped inside with a bit of a smile on his face. "I'm okay now, though. Besides, I was only out there for like seven minutes" When he stepped inside, he saw that everything was the same as it was before he went outside. No chaos in the gift shop, nothing has been damaged, nobody is making any complaints, and everyone seems to be doing their jobs right. Looks like everything is-

"Jason!" said Grunkle Stan, who was standing by the snack with his arms crossed and had an angry look on his face. "Come here!" Just wanting to get it over with and not get himself into any more trouble that he might be in, Jason walked over to where Grunkle Stan was standing. "Let's talk in my office," said Stan before he turned around, pushed open the Employees Only door and started heading towards his office with Jason following behind him.

"He'll be fine," said Soos, as he picked up the broom Jason set aside and started sweeping around the gift shop. "Mr. Pines wouldn't fire someone just for taking a break. He probably just wanted to talk to him about something"

* * *

 **10 Minutes Later**

"They've been back there for quite a while," said Mabel, "They should've been out by now" Mabel was starting to get a bit worried and from the look on Dipper and Soos' face, so were they. The Mystery Shack closes up for the day at 4:00 and it was now 3:17. While everything was still calm, they still needed Grunkle Stan out to run the museum tour. "I think I should-"

"Mabel don't," Dipper said, "They're fine. I bet any minute now, they're gonna be walking through that door" What he said must of worked because after he said that, her mood changed back to the usual super happy Mabel look he knows all too well.

"You're right!" Mabel said with a smile on her face. "I shouldn't worry! Grunkle Stan would never get rid of a valuable employee! I bet as soon as they walk through that door, they're gonna be-" She stopped when she heard the faint sound of someone screaming in pain through the Employees Only door. "Smiling and laughing!" She said, continuing what she was saying before. "They're going to come walking through that door smiling and laughing like a couple of friends" She saw that Soos was about to go through the door to get something, so she quickly stepped in front of him before he could get any closer; standing in between the door and Soos.

"What's going on, Mabel?" asked Dipper. She usually doesn't act like this, especially in public. The answer she gave him wasn't really audible, nor did she mouth the words of what she wanted to say. She just scratched her knee a few times and then pointed towards the door. "Are you sure, Mabel?" asked Dipper, with Mabel replying with just a nod. "But don't you think we should-"

"I know what I must do," Soos said as he straightened his baseball cap and started heading out through the gift shop's doorway; making sure to leave the door open. Once he was a few feet away from the Mystery Shack, he stopped. "Hey everyone!" Soos yelled, "It's Sev'ral Timez! And they're giving away free tickets to their next concert! But they only have three left!" After hearing that, everyone that was still in the gift shop ran as fast as they could to get outside and get their tickets. Once they got outside, they started heading towards the direction of where Sev'ral Timez was. Soos, after seeing the fast oncoming crowd of people, quickly jumped out of the way to avoid getting run over; making sure to also stop Mabel who apparently was a big Sev'ral Timez fan. Once Soos came back in, the three of them stepped through the back doorway and started walking towards Stan's office. "Jason and Mr. Pines are okay," said Soos as the three of them walked down the hallway towards Stan's office. "They're just having a nice friendly-" BAM! Soos was interrupted by the loud sound of something, or someone, falling over.

"Go! Go! Go!" Mabel said as she started running towards the door, with Dipper and Soos following behind. Not even bothering to knock, Mabel twisted the door's doorknob, pushed open the door and rushed into Stan's office. As soon as they came into the office, they saw Jason on the floor holding his head as he cried out in pain, with Grunkle Stan on his hands and knees next to him with a worried look on his face. "What happened?" asked Mabel with worry in her voice. Stan took his attention away from Jason to speak with Mabel.

"I-I don't know!" said Grunkle Stan, "We were talking then all of a sudden his head started hurting!" He then turned his attention back towards the young man on the floor who was clutching his head in agony.

"Ow…" Jason said, "Why...Why won't it stop?!" The other three took a step back out of shock from his sudden outburst. "Wait, I'm sorry!" Jason said, doing his best to apologize to the others. "I didn't mean to! I didn't mean-AH!" He was interrupted by the reminder of his throbbing headache. While his head was feeling like it was being hit with boulders, his mind was being filled with scenes that played like a movie inside his mind.

 **"AAAHHH!" "Where the hell did you get this thing?!" "I've gotta hide this!" "Give me your best shot!" "You're the best!" "Let's get this party started!" "You've got a lot of guts, kid!"**

"Jason!" Mabel yelled, who was now more worried than ever as she watched Jason who wasn't screaming anymore but was shaking a little every now and then. He must have heard her because as soon as she shouted his name, he stopped shaking and looked up at her. When he looked up at her, Mabel saw that his eyes were a bit puffy and he had tears in his eyes. "Jason what's wrong?" Mabel asked as she walked over to him.

"M-Mabel…" Jason said, trying to get a word out of his mouth. But instead of finishing his sentence, he stands up and walks back over to Stan's desk where a bulky, black safe with a handle is laying on the floor almost halfway open. "It's nothing, Mabel," he said, "I'm fine. It's just a headache, that's all" He picked up the safe and sets it on top of Stan's desk; closing it to make sure no one sees the contents of the safe. He said something to Stan but made sure to whisper it so that the others didn't hear him. He turned around, and walked out of Stan's office towards the back door; ignoring the sad looks Dipper and Mabel were giving him. While he was walking towards the back door, he couldn't help but hear three sets of running footsteps behind him. 'Of course, they'd try and stop me' Jason thought to himself as he stopped so they could catch up.

"Wait dude!" Soos said after he and the others came to a stop behind Jason, panting more than he should be. "Are you gonna be okay?" The young man in front of them did not say anything. "Are you gonna be okay getting home?" Soos asked, "I mean, after what just-"

"I'll be fine, Ramirez," Jason said, not caring that he just called Soos by his last name. "I just need to get home and lay down. Once I lay down I'll be...I'll be…" For some reason, his entire body started to feel heavy and he had a hard time keeping his eyes open. He heard Mabel call out at him from behind. "I said I'm fine," he said, "I just need to lay down…" He started walking towards the back door again but walking a bit slow as he did his best just to stay standing up. While he was walking towards the door, he checked his pockets with his free hand looking for his apartment key. But while he was looking through his pockets, he couldn't help but notice that a certain something was missing. "Oh...oh no," he said, as he stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed something missing from one of his pockets.

"Whatcha looking for?" asked Grunkle Stan from behind the others. "Did you lose something?"

"Oh, it's nothing!" Jason said, leaning against the wall as to help him stand. "I just can't seem to find my wallet! I bet it's by the pine trees" Slowly pushing himself off of the wall, Jason started heading towards the back door again. Once he finally got to the back door, he grabbed hold of the doorknob but was interrupted by another sudden headache; not a big one like the other two, but a small one. "Ow!" he said, not realizing that the others heard him.

"That's it, mister!" said Mabel coming up from behind, "You're not in any condition of going anywhere!" Jason turned towards Mabel to say something to her, face to face. But as soon as he did, he saw a look on her face like she was trying to be serious. She had her hands on her hips, her bottom lip was a bit puffed out, and both of her eyebrows were arched. Anyone would probably take her seriously if it weren't for her gray sweater that had a big cassette tape on it. "You're staying here for the night! No excuses!"

"Mabel," Jason said, "You seriously don't need to do this. It was just a headache" But from the non-changing expression on her face, it looked like she wasn't taking no for an answer. "But what about Stan?" said Jason, "This is HIS house, right?" When he looked over at Stan, he noticed that he had almost the same expression Mabel had on. "Oh alright," Jason said, "I'll stay over for the night...but I still need to get my-" Before he could finish his sentence, he found himself being picked up and slung over Soos' shoulder. "W-What the?!" Jason said, shocked by this sudden action. "Soos, I can walk on my own! Just let me go get my wallet and then I'll come back" His words, however, fell on deaf ears as Soos started walking towards the living room with Jason slung over his shoulder.

"Don't worry dude!" Soos said, "We'll have someone go get it for you" After he heard that, Jason couldn't help but worry.

' _Oh no!'_ Jason thought to himself, ' _What do I do? Maybe I could say that I don't need it? No! Maybe send Stan out to get it? No! Maybe I could just tell them to bring it and don't look inside it!'_ Once he got to the living room, he slowly sat down on the living room chair with the help of Soos. "Thanks," Jason said before Soos left the room. As soon as he sat down in it, he couldn't help but notice how comfortable the chair is. He was about to make a comment about the chair when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mabel running towards the back entrance. ' _Oh no!'_ he thought to himself, "Mabel wait!"

"Huh?" Mabel said, stopping right in front of the back door.

"Are you going outside to find my wallet?" asked Jason, getting a nod in response from Mabel. "Now you remember about not looking through other people's stuff, right?" In response, Mabel gave him another nod before she headed outside to go looking for his wallet. While he was waiting for Mabel to coming back with come back with his wallet, Soos walked over with a pillow and blanket. "Thanks," Jason said, as he grabbed the pillow and blanket from Soos. About the same time, Soos walked away, Mabel came walking in with Jason's wallet in her hand. "Thanks, kiddo," he said as Mabel ran over and gave him his leather wallet; running off to who knows where. Dipper, from Jason's other side, walked over to him carrying paper and crayons. "Uh, Dipper?" Jason said, "While this is nice of you, why are you giving me paper and crayons? Also, what's with the string?" Within arm's length, there was some rope that hung from the door edge and leads all the way to the attic.

"Mabel said that this would help keep you entertained in case you get bored," Dipper said as he set up a tray with legs in front of Jason. He decided not to say anything about it. Besides, he might as well do something if he's going to be stuck here for the night. "And the rope is to signal me and Mabel for food, if we're going somewhere, or if Grunkle Stan just needs us to do something for him" Once Dipper walked out of the living room to go do who knows, Jason picked up one of the crayons and started drawing the first thing that came to mind. While he was drawing, because he was so focused on what he was doing he didn't hear Mabel come walking into the living room.

"Whatcha drawing there, Jason?"

"Nothing!" shouted Jason as he quickly covered his drawing with his arms. When looked over to who the voice belonged to, he saw that it was Mabel walking into the living room carrying a small stack of VHS tapes in her hands. "Oh Mabel," Jason said, "It's just you. Please don't scare...what's with the tapes?" As she walked into the living room, walking in behind her came Dipper and Soos, who was carrying a bowl of freshly made popcorn. "I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that you guys are going to watch a movie?"

"Yep!" said Mabel as she set down the stack of videos right next to the TV. Among the stack of videos Jason saw titles that said Dream Boy High, Grandpa The Kid, and Honey I Shrunk The Ghosts, The others he had a hard time seeing for some reason. "Alright you guys," Mabel said before picking up the two movies. "Which one do you want to watch? _Dream Boy High? Grandpa the Kid?_ Or _Honey I Shrunk The Ghosts?"_ While the two were busy thinking about which one to watch, they failed to hear Stan walking into the living room. They also failed to see the other movies that the first two videos were stacked on top of. Stan, because it was later in the day and the shop was closed, he wasn't wearing his usual suit. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and blue boxers with dark blue slippers on his feet. Waiting on the chair to make their decision, Jason couldn't help but let out a little groan as he listened to the titles of the movies; especially to the first one. Wanting to be nice, Jason stood up out of the chair so that Grunkle Stan had a comfier place to sit. After Jason got out of the chair, he walked over to the living room doorway and sat down on the steps in front of it; carrying the blanket along with the paper and crayons with him.

"Ya know," Jason said, "You guys have other movies"

"I know," Mabel said, "But these three are the only good ones" He arched his eyebrow after hearing her say that. Are they really only the good ones? He decided not to argue with the topic and just let it slide. Why argue with a twelve-year-old on a topic about movies? After the group, excluding Jason since he didn't really care, finally decided on the movie Mabel slid _Grandpa the Kid_ into the VCR.

"Well while you guys watch your movie," said Jason as he slowly stood up from where he sat, tossing aside the blanket. "I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick" He was told where it was which was around the corner, the door to your left at the very end of the hallway. He took a few steps towards the turn, before slowing down so that he can look at the others that are still in the living room watching the movie. Making sure that they were all focused on the TV and not looking his way, he quickly walked up the stairs leading towards the attic. Once he got to the top of the stairs, he made his way towards Dipper and Mabel's room; luckily the door was already open so he just walked in. "Alright, now where'd he put it?" he said, whispering to himself; making sure to close the door behind him. After looking under beds, pillows, and going through drawers, he eventually found it at the very top of some shelves that looked like it'd be too high for Dipper or Mabel to even reach; whether or not they stood on the tips of their toes. "How or why they put it up there, I'll never know" Jason whispered as he got the journal, put it in his jacket, and put everything back the way it was.

"I just need to get something, Dipper!"

' _Oh no!'_ Jason had to act quick or else he was going to get caught by Mabel. ' _Hide under the bed? The closet? Jump out the window?'_ Hearing Mabel get closer he needed to think faster. That's when he remembered something from earlier.

"I'll be right back down, Dipper!" said Mabel as she entered her room, with Jason nowhere in site. "Now where is it?" She started walking around in her and her brother's room, picking stuff up and looking through stuff, looking for what she came looking for. "Oh, where is it?" Mabel said, "Why can't I find-" DING! DING! DING! Mabel looked up at the ringing bell that was hanging from the wooden just above the foot of her bed. "Coming!" Mabel yelled as she started moving faster until she finally found what was looking for and ran out of her room with her stuffed tiger in her arms. Once he was sure that she was all the way downstairs, he opened the closet door the rest of the way and stepped out. After closing the door behind him, he walked over to where the bell is and picked up the broken pieces of crayon.

"Crayons," he said, "Useful for drawing, and for fooling a 12-year-old girl" After zipping up his jacket and putting the crayon bits in his pocket, he walks out of the twins' bedroom and starts heading downstairs; making sure to walk slowly so that the others don't hear him. Once he gets far enough down the stairs, he climbs over the railing on the stairs and walks the rest of the way to the living room. ' _I need to get out and get home fast'_ Jason thought to himself. He has to get out of there quick before Dipper notices that "his" journal is missing. "Hey you guys," Jason said, "I'm feeling a lot better now. I think I'll head on home!" Despite Mabel and Soos' request to stay, Jason opened the back door and was ready to head home. "See you guys to-" He was interrupted as he felt Mabel grab and pull on his hand. When he looked at her, he saw that she had a bit of a sad look on her face but she still managed to keep her smile. "Mabel," Jason said, "Please let go-"

"Can you please stay?" Mabel said, "What's wrong with spending one night over at a friends place?" That one word echoed in Jason's head; friends. "Come on, Jason," Mabel said but got no answer in response; not a nod or anything.

"Mabel…" Jason said, "I have no friends. They're gone. Forever! There's no bringing them back! Do you under-" He was interrupted by the sound of Mabel sniffling. When he looked back down at her, he saw that her eyes were a bit red due to crying and her nose was leaking a bit. ' _Aw damn it'_ Jason thought to himself, ' _I didn't mean to make her cry! Stan is gonna kill me'_ Jason quickly kneeled down in front of her and gave her a hug. "Mabel I'm sorry," Jason said as he pulled away from her, "I didn't mean to upset you. Is there anything I can-"

"Does that mean that we're not friends?" Mabel said as she wiped away her tears with her sleeve, "That me, Dipper, Soos, Wendy and Grunkle Stan aren't your friends?" Over Mabel's shoulder, Jason saw Dipper and Soos poking their heads out from the living room and watching him and Mabel. "What about all the stuff we did?" Mabel said, "That was fun, wasn't it?" Jason was doing the best he can to not look directly at Mabel's watery eyes. "And besides," Mabel said, "If you remember all the good memories you did with your friends, then they're never really gone. So make-"

"As many friends as possible," Jason said, finishing Mabel's sentence. "You sound just like him," Ford said the same thing to him almost 30 years ago. ' _Even when you're gone,'_ Jason thought to himself, ' _You're still able to help me'_ He stood back up and turned towards the back door. "Mabel...thank you," Jason said, "I'm gonna go now, but I just need to do something. I'll be right back" Hearing this brought a smile to Mabel's face. After doing a little checking to make sure that the journal wasn't ready to fall out, he walked out through the back door towards the front the gift shop where he usually comes in; he tossed the crayon bits he had in his pocket into a nearby bush. "Now let's see…" Jason said as he began thinking out loud, "Should I walk to prevent dropping the journal? Or should I drive my new motorcycle there? Decisions, decisions, decisions!" Once he finally came to a decision, he let out an almost high pitched whistle. After waiting a while, the increasingly loud roar of an engine was heard as his motorcycle came speeding towards him fast. Before it could accidentally run him over, the bike slowed down to a stop right in front of him. "Alright let's do this," Jason said before he hopped up onto the motorcycle. Once he hopped on it, he drove down the dirt pathway that leads towards town. He stopped halfway, however, when out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the graveyard; more importantly, some of the tombstones that were part of the graveyard. "I might be gone a little longer, Mabel," Jason said, talking to no one but himself. Once he got home, he hid the journal in his room someplace safe. After that was done, he drove around town looking for a place that sells motorcycle helmets. Gotta protects that noggin which has somehow not cracked open yet. He finally found one which was a helmet for street racing, painted red with small plastic devil horns on the top. Once he got his helmet, he drove on over to the flower shop.

* * *

 ** _-Dipper & Mabel's Bedroom-_**

"Hey Mabel," Dipper said, who still had on his shorts and red shirt but took off his vest, and hat. "Do you know where the journal is?" Both siblings were in their room doing something; Dipper was looking for the journal and Mabel was knitting what looks like a half-finished sweater. "I know I put it somewhere but I just can't remember where"

"Did you check your…" Mabel said, stopping when she realized that Dipper wasn't wearing a hat; Mabel had changed into a purple long-sleeved shirtdress that had a floppy disk, with dark pink socks and a headband that matched her shirt. "Well did you check under your pillow?" Dipper looked under his pillow and the journal wasn't there. "Under your bed?" He looked under there and it wasn't there either. "How about on top of...oh wait, nevermind" Mabel stopped herself when she looked up at the top shelf and noticed that the journal was not their either. But when she looked back at her brother, she noticed that he had his thinking face on. "What is it, Dipper?" Mabel asked.

* * *

 _ **-Outside-**_

"Hey, It's me…" said Jason, who was standing in front of a row of tombstones. "Sorry, I haven't been visiting you guys lately. I have a lot going on in my life. But, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't make some time to visit you guys" He laid the flowers he got on each one of the graves. Once that was done, he drove back to his apartment to get some stuff before he went back to the Mystery Shack. "No doubt the kid is looking for that journal right about now," Jason said while he was walking up the stepping towards his apartment, whispering so that no one could hear him. "Better bring it back and hope I can sneak it in without getting caught. But I haven't read anything new from the journal yet!" Once he got in, he rushed over to where he hid the journal and got it out. "Just two or three pages from the journal," he said, "Then I'll give it back"

* * *

 _ **-The Mystery Shack-**_

I should probably get going now," Soos said as he started walking towards the door of the gift shop. "I don't want Abuelita to start worrying about me. See you, dudes, tomorrow!" He waved goodbye to the others as he walked out the door. As he was walking towards his pickup truck, Jason was speeding up towards the dirt pathway that leads towards the Mystery Shack. Bringing with him this time, he had on his backpack that held the journal and some other stuff. "Do, do, doo doo doo! Getting into my car!" Soos sang as he got into his pickup truck, even though he was singing about getting into a car. While he was getting into his truck, he heard the running motor of a vehicle quickly approaching the Mystery Shack. "Hu?" he said as he poked his out the passenger window to check to see who was coming. When he looked, he saw Jason coming up the dirt pathway on a black motorcycle wearing his backpack and a red motorcycle helmet. "Sup dude!" yelled Soos towards Jason as he slowed down to a stop across from where Soos was parked.

"What's up, Soos?" asked Jason said after he removed his helmet from his head. "You heading home for the day?" Soos told Jason the same thing he told the others before he started up his truck. "Alright Soos," Jason said, "See ya tomorrow!" The two of them waved goodbye to each other as Soos drove away in his truck. As he was walking around towards the back door, he couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something. He went off all the things he needed to get done, and he still couldn't figure out what he was forgetting. ' _Just what is it?'_ he thought to himself, ' _I got the journal, I paid my respects, got myself a helmet, what am I forgetting?!'_ Once he got to the back door of the Mystery Shack, he opened it and stepped inside; closing it behind him once he was all the way inside the Mystery Shack. "I'm back!" Jason shouted, "Mabel? Dipper?" He looked in the living room, the gift shop and the kitchen; there was no sign of Dipper or Mabel anywhere. ' _Maybe they're in their room'_ Jason thought to himself. ' _Grunkle Stan is probably in his office or the bathroom'_ He took a few steps towards the stairs that lead towards the attic, but he stopped when he had just taken just a few steps up the stairs. He could go up to their bedroom, OR make them come downstairs. "You know what," Jason said, shouting a little so that the kids would be able to hear him. "I think I'll go home and sleep there in-"

"No, you don't, mister!" Mabel said, coming out of nowhere as she hops up from behind Jason and wraps her arms tight around his neck. "You're sleeping over and that's final!"

"Ack!" Jason exclaimed, feeling Mabel's arms wrap around his neck and making it difficult to breathe. "M-Mabel, I can't breathe!" Once she realized what she was doing, Mabel quickly lets go of Jason who had fallen down onto his knees. As soon as Mabel had let go of him, Jason stayed on his knees as he did his best to not pass out. Once he got control of his breathing, he slowly got back up onto his feet. Once he got to his feet, he turned towards Mabel and Dipper who was walking up behind her. "Hey you two," Jason said as he walked around them and entered the living room, taking off his backpack and putting it down by the dinosaur skull that sat next to the chair. "I told you I'd be back. I'm guessing I'm gonna be...Dipper, why do you have that look on your face?" Dipper had a look on his face like he was pondering something.

"Oh Dipper is just trying to figure out what happened to his j-" Mabel's voice was quickly muffled by Jason's hand. Dipper told him that Grunkle Stan was in the bathroom and that they should talk upstairs. After removing his hand from Mabel's mouth, Jason and the other two quickly hurried up towards the kids' bedroom. Once they were all in, Jason closed the door and sat on Dipper's bed while the twins sat on Mabel's bed.

"Okay first off, Mabel," Jason said, "You can't just go talking about the journal where people can hear you. And second, it's not his journal it belongs to the one who wrote it in the first place" Jason realized that he might have sounded a bit angry when he said all of that. Also, what he said might have been a bit rude. "Sorry kids," he said, "I didn't mean to sound angry. There's just a lot going right now" Things that he rather not tell Stan or the others about. "Alright Dipper," Jason said, "Maybe you misplaced it somewhere"

"I already checked all the possible places," Dipper said, "But they weren't there; not even on the top shelf. Mabel and I wouldn't be able to get the journal that high up unless we got a ladder to climb up and get it or something to throw and knock it down. The only people that are tall enough to reach it are Soos, Wendy, Grunkle Stan, and you. Wendy never comes up here and-"

"Relax Dipper," Jason said, interrupting the kid before he continued on with his little hypothesis. "It'll probably turn up tomorrow. Don't worry about it, okay?" With that said, he stood up from Dipper's bed and started walking towards the door. After he opened the door, and just took a step out through the doorway, Jason stopped as he felt a tug on his jacket from behind. "What is it?" He asked as he turned around to face the kids. When he turned around, he saw Mabel holding up a drawing a picture he drew before he left. It was a picture of a cliff that overlooked the town of Gravity Falls and it was surrounded by trees. ' _Oh yeah...now I remember'_ Jason thought to himself as he saw Mabel hold up his picture. "Um Mabel, can I have that back plea-"

"Can I keep it?" Mabel asked, "Please?" Jason did his best to look away from her, but it was almost impossible. If she were to try and take over the world using just her little puppy dog look, she'd be made queen almost instantly.

"Okay, you can keep it!" Jason said, "Just stop before you give me a heart attack" After she got a yes from him, Mabel ran on over to her bed with a triumphant look on her face. "I'll be downstairs you two" After walking out of their room, he started walking downstairs before making a right turn into the living room. As soon as he sat down in the chair, Grunkle Stan came walking in still wearing his shirt and boxers. "Hm? Oh hey Stan!" said Jason, "What's up? Do you need something? Wanna watch something on TV?"

"We need to talk about something, kid" Grunkle Stan said, "Something important. But we can't talk about it here"

"Oh...I see" Jason said, "I guess you know then" When he said that, Grunkle Stan looked at him confused. Just what the heck is he talking about. "I guess I can't hide it anymore," he said, "But I didn't think someone would find out so soon" Slowly, he stood up from the chair and turned towards Grunkle Stan. "It's true, Grunkle Stan" Jason said as he started talking with a hoarse, yet menacing voice. "I. Am. Bat-OW!" He was interrupted as Grunkle Stan's slipper made contact with his face. "What the heck was that for?!" He screamed, using his regular voice. "And why your slipper? That's been on your foot! Yuck!" He let out a few more sounds of disgusts every now and then as he wiped his mouth on his jacket sleeve; when the slipper hit his face his mouth was open. "Soda first, THEN we talk. Got it?" he said after he put his mouth away from the sleeve. Once they got a soda from the kitchen, and Jason got the horrible taste out of his mouth, they went to Stan's office; making sure to close to close the door. "Alright Stan," Jason said, "What is it that you want to talk about at...6:30? Wow, that was fast"

"I want to talk about that safe" Stan said, "I wanna know what's in it, kid" During work, Stan called Jason into his office because he found a safe that had his name on it. When the safe was opened, only Jason saw what was inside it and he closed it before Stan could look inside. The safe was locked by a key and passcode. Stan had the key and Jason knew the passcode, but now the young man has both. "Please kid," Stan said, "Just tell me what's in-"

"Stan," Jason said, interrupting Grunkle Stan. "This really isn't something to be talking about at this time of the day. The kids could be downstairs listening in right now" Even though he said that he thought that he should still at least tell Stan something instead of avoiding the question. "Look, Stan, there's nothing to worry about," Jason said, lowering his voice just in case anyone was listening in. "If there was anything bad in there I'd tell you" Looking at Stan's face, Jason could tell that he was starting to get suspicious. "Stan," Jason said, "I get that you're only looking out for this family, but I'm telling the truth. I'd never do anything to hurt this family" Grunkle Stan's expression slowly changed into sorrow. Jason, feeling like their conversation is over, stood up from where he sat and walked towards the door. "Remember what I said, Stan" Jason said before he opened the door and walked out Stan's office towards the living room which was just right next to where he was. When he got back to the living room, he saw Dipper and Mabel sitting in front of the chair watching TV. "Shouldn't you kids be in bed or…" Jason said, stopping himself to yawn, "...something?"

"We've still got about an hour and thirty minutes," Mabel said, "Besides, there's this one show that I've been wanting to see" Signaling them to move forward a little, Jason sat down on the chair behind Dipper and Mabel. "Oh, here it comes! Here it comes!" Mabel said excitedly as the commercial played on the screen. On the screen, it showed a green alien whose head is bigger than his body with a gray robot, that's almost half the alien's size, with a mirror in one hand and a bar of soap in the other hand; the alien looked like he was wearing a disguise.

* * *

/

 _"Gir!" The alien shouted as he stood up while trying not to slip on the puddle of grease he was standing in. "Give me cleansing chalk! Hurry!" The gray robot named Gir handed him the packaged soap held out the packaged soap he had in his hand, in which the alien swiped it away and ripped the paper packaging off. Once he got it off, he rubbed the soap all over his face to get rid of all the greasy germs from the humans that were now on him. When he felt that something wasn't right, he pulled the soap away from his face and checked it. As soon as he did, the soap started to unravel and he noticed that the soap was actually bacon! "Why was there BACON IN THE SOAP?!" He screamed._

 _"I made it myself!" The little robot screamed excitedly._

/

* * *

"THIS is what kids are watching nowadays?" asked Jason, with a mixed expression of confused and bored on his face. He looked down at Dipper and Mabel and saw that they weren't really liking the show either. "All in favor of changing the channel?" He asked, to which they all raised their hand. Grabbing the remote from on top of the dinosaur skull, Jason started flipping through the channels to see which looked good. "No...No...No…" Jason said while he was flipping through the channels. "No...Aha!" He stopped on a channel that showed two cavemen moving around in a prehistoric version of a car that was powered by feet. "Enjoy the classics kids," Jason said before he set aside the remote and picked up his backpack, setting it on top of his lap and unzipping it halfway. "Not yet…" Jason whispered to himself as he looked inside his backpack, zipping it back up and returning his attention to the TV. "Not until they're all asleep"

Time quickly passed by and everyone had gone to bed; excluding Jason who slept in the chair sideways. He had an early alarm set on his phone so that he can wake up and sneak out before the others notice. Once the clock turned 10:00, his alarm went off. Being awoken by the alarm, Jason shot straight up from the seat. Realizing what the sound was, and where he was, he quickly grabbed his phone and shut the alarm off. _'Guess I should get ready'_ Jason thought to himself as he stood up from the chair and stretched. He goes over to the table where there were a few crayons and pieces of paper still out. _'I could at least leave them a note'_ After writing the note using the crayons, and getting the journal from his backpack, he slowly sneaked up the stairs towards Dipper and Mabel's bedroom. Opening the door halfway, he slowly tiptoed into their bedroom with the journal and note hidden in his jacket. He kept going but then stopped when he was in front of the table that was against the wall in between their beds. He put the journal back up on the top shelf and placed the note on the table. Before he left the room, he couldn't help but notice Mabel shivering as the blanket had slipped off her bed and fallen onto the floor. He also saw that Dipper had fallen asleep with a mystery book against his head and his blanket was close to falling off of the bed. _'I can't just leave them like this'_ he thought to himself before he picked the blanket up off the floor and wrapped Mabel with it, making sure not to cover her head. He then pulled the book away from Dipper's head, putting it aside on the table, and did the same thing with the blanket as he did with Mabel. After he took care of both Dipper and Mabel, he started tiptoeing towards the door again. Once he was out of the bedroom, he closed the door slowly as to not wake them up and then made his way towards the attic window. _'I sure hope this works'_ He thought to himself as he pushed open the double windows and placed a foot on the window ledge. After he poked his head outside, leaning forward a little, he looked down at the ground that was below that if he fell, he would not come out of this unharmed. _'Oh god I hope this works'_ Turning his head towards the pine trees, he jumped towards the nearest one and landed on it; letting out a sigh of relief before reaching over and pushing close the window.

He started climbing down the tree and after he got to the bottom, he dropped down to the ground and walked towards the totem pole. He reached into the bottom mouth of it and pulled out the black safe. _'Good thing I had Stanley hide it in here'_ Jason thought to himself as he slipped off his backpack and set it down on the ground. Once he got the zipped open far enough, he put the safe inside it and then zipped it back up before picking it up and slipping it back on. He started walking towards the parking lot where his motorcycle was parked with his helmet hanging on one of the handlebars. "Time to go I guess," He said, talking to no one in particular before he hopped onto his motorcycle and put on his helmet; making sure that the straps were on tight. Once he was sure that the straps on his helmet were nice and tight, he drove off away from the Mystery Shack; heading home to sleep in something comfier than a chair.

* * *

 **The Next Day**

The sun rose to mark a new day in Gravity Falls. When it shines, it wakes those who have yet to have awoken from their slumber; an example being young Dipper and Mabel. The twins opened their eyes as they felt the bright light of the sun enter into their room and shine on their faces. When they woke up, they each noticed something; Mabel was tucked in with her stuffed tiger and Dipper was also tucked in but his book was on the table instead of on his bed. What they also noticed was the note on the table. Dipper picked it up and began to read it out loud.

" _Dear Mabel,"_ Dipper said as he began reading the note, " _I know you really wanted me to stay over for the night, but I'm afraid that I can't. I've already left and gone home so don't expect to see me during breakfast. But, I will see you at work so don't worry. Mabel, I once believed that there was no point in making any more friends. Thank you for giving me a reason to start making friends again"_ After Dipper was finished reading the note, he looked up and saw that Mabel had a big smile on her face. She was able to convince someone to start making friends again. When he looked back down at the note, he noticed something. "Hey wait," he said, "There's more…"

" _P. S. Dipper if you're reading this, I took the journal. I just wanted to read a little more of it! But remember this kid; despite what the journal said, there are some people you_ can _trust"_

 **FGBC ORVAT PHGR, ZNORY!**

 **AU: I don't actually hate Invader Zim. I don't know why I put Invader Zim as a show to pop up on the TV, it just popped into my head. I like the** _ **Flintstones**_ **as well.**


	5. The Case of the Missing Wax Head!

"So it's a duck in London that solves crimes?" said Jason, who was at the Mystery Shack watching some show they heard Dipper and Mabel talking about. There wasn't any work today but he came in just to hang out with them. "It isn't any different from-"

"Shhh! TV time!" Mabel said, who was sitting on the floor knitting a new sweater. Next to her was Dipper eating a bowl of popcorn while he and the others watched TV. When Mabel reached for the popcorn, he slapped her hand away. On the TV it showed two men and a duck wearing a detective hat. The man next to the duck was a constable who looked to be in his 30's and the other guy you could only see his limbs because the rest of him was being crushed under a telephone booth.

* * *

" _I'm afraid your services won't be required here, sir," The constable said, talking towards the duck who was investigating the crime scene. "My men have examined the evidence, and this is obviously an accident" But even after he said that the detective didn't look like he was convinced._

" _Accident, Constable?" The detective asked; well quacked, but the producer had to put in subtitles so the audience could understand him. "Or is it...MURDER?!"_

" _WHAT?!"_

 _ **DUCK-TECTIVE WILL RETURN AFTER THESE MESSAGES.**_

* * *

"That duck is a _genius_!" Mabel said, dropping her yarn and knitting needles. Jason was having a bit of a hard time believing that this was what people were watching nowadays. A duck that solves mysteries? But, better a mystery solving duck than a rapping dog. Turning away from his thoughts, he sees Dipper demonstrating his keen powers of observation on Mabel.

"Just by smelling your breath I can tell that you've been eating…" He said before he started sniffing his sister's breath, which smelled like something more than the others. "An entire tube of toothpaste?" On her mouth, she had what looked like sparkling toothpaste.

"Alright Dipper," Jason said, "Let's see what you've got on me" Turning his head towards Jason, Dipper did a quick look at him before he stopped and made his analysis.

"From the bits of dirt on your pants," Dipper said, "I'd say that you've been doing some digging recently. From the bits of black sticking out of your-" Jason quickly covered Dipper's mouth with his hand before he could finish his thought; having a look on his face that said, "Don't you dare finish that sentence" . As he was removing his hand from Dipper's mouth, Soos came running into the living room with a broom in hand and an excited look on his face.

"Hey dudes," Soos said, "You'll never guess what I found!" Both Dipper and Mabel guessed buried treasure while Jason guessed that Soos found the Necronomicon, earning him confused looks from the others. Deciding to find out for themselves, they followed Soos as he leads them towards the thing that he found. Jason pulled a fedora out of his bag and zipped it shut, tossing it behind the chair. He slipped the fedora onto his head before following behind them. "So, I was cleaning up, when I found this secret door, hidden behind the wallpaper," Soos said, who was walking towards a slightly open door that was by a grandfather clock; the door was clearly shown it was being hidden by the wallpaper that Soos ripped apart. As he slowly pushed the door open the rest of the way, he and the others following behind walked down the small stairs that waited behind. Using the sun that was seeping into the room as a light, Soos, and the others were able to see what waited for them inside the dark room; except for Dipper who decided to use a flashlight. Inside the room contained not treasure, but just lifelike wax sculptures of many famous and infamous people.

"Whoa!" Dipper said as he walked around the room; shining the flashlight on the many wax figures. "It's an entire wax museum!" Unbeknownst to him and the others, Jason was staring at the wax statues with awe.

"They're so life-like," said Mabel, who was rubbing the cheek of Sherlock Holmes.

"Except for that one" Dipper said, shining his flashlight on a statue a lot like a certain uncle after store closes. This statue had the same shirt and boxers as him along with a bulgy gut and wrinkly skin that Stan always had.

"Hello!" said the statue, or rather, Grunkle Stan; scaring almost everyone and making them scream in surprise. "Ha ha ha! Don't worry" He said, "It's just me, your Grunkle Stan!" They screamed again in fright and then ran out of the room. The only person that didn't run away was Jason who was admiring the wax figures. "Hey, Jason!" Grunkle Stan said, bring Jason's attention towards him. "What's up with the hat?"

"It's just a hat, Stan," Jason said, readjusting his fedora. "You have one so I thought that I'd wear one too" The man he was talking to looked at him in confusion. "I just wanted to wear a hat, okay? Geez!"

* * *

 ** _-Later-_**

"Behold the Gravity Falls Wax Museum!" Grunkle Stan said, with the others back in the room. "It was one of our most popular attractions...before I forgot all about it" Above them a light hung from the ceiling Grunkle Stan turned on to fully see the wax figures and the rest of the room they stood in. Starting at the first one, he began walking down the row of wax sculptures and naming them off with the group following behind. "I got 'em all! Genghis Khan, Sherlock Holmes," Stan said as he started naming off the wax figures until he came to a stop at one of them. "Some kind of...I don't know, goblin man"

"Is anyone getting the creeps here?" Dipper said as a chill ran down his spine. Even though the only ones in the room were them and the wax figures...he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched.

"And now for my personal favorite, Wax Abraham Lincoln!" Grunkle Stan said as he continued on towards the wax figure of Abraham Lincoln. "Just right over-Ahh! Oh no! Come on!" Or what was left of him. The sun shining through the window above showed what was once a sculpture that stood tall was now a puddle of melted wax where the statue of our 16th president once stood. "Who left the blinds open?" Stan asked, "Wax John Wilkes Booth, I'm looking in your direction!" Looking down at the puddle in front him, he bent down onto one knee and stuck a finger into it; examining the still warm glob of wax. "How do you even fix a wax figure?"

"I should probably text Wendy," Jason muttered to himself, having lost interest in what was Stan was saying. "Maybe she'll know what to do. Or...maybe I shouldn't. Maybe she's busy with her friends. Maybe I should try fixing this myself" He was so busy contemplating whether or not he should text Wendy that he didn't notice that the others had already left. When he looked up from his phone, he noticed that he was the only one left in the room full of wax statues. "They're probably all in the living room," He said as he stuffed his phone into his pocket and left the room, heading towards the living room. Somehow, as he walked down the hallway, he didn't notice the door to the parlor room that was open halfway. "Hey everyone!" he said as he entered the living room, "I'll be back real...where's Mabel?" They told him that she was in the parlor room preparing a wax figure to replace the one that melted. Following behind Dipper, the two ventured towards the parlor to where they found Mabel drawing in her sketchbook.

"Dipper!" Mabel said as she jumped in front of her brother who was drinking his soda as she surprised him; making him choke on the drink out of shock. "What do you think of my wax figure idea?" she asked as she showed him her picture, "She's part fairy princess, and part _horse_ princess" The picture showed the fairy princess trying to stand up in her pink dress, but the head of the horse princess was sticking out of the fairy's stomach and it looked like it was trying to fit into the dress but failing horribly.

"M...maybe you should carve something from real life," Dipper said, having finally stopped choking and regaining his composure.

"Like a waffle, with big arms!"

"Well two of those things are from real life," Jason said, coming up from behind Dipper. "But, how about you carve something bigger than that? Like….maybe someone in your family?" From behind him, he could hear padded footsteps walking up behind them.

"Kids?" Grunkle Stan said, "Have you seen my pants?" Said old man then posed on top of a nearby briefcase Mabel brought to help build the wax figure. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, light shone down on Stan and an angel choir was heard just as the man posed on that briefcase. When Mabel saw her half-dressed uncle pose, she knew she had found IT.

"Oh muse," she said as she turned and looked up at the ceiling. "You work in mysterious ways"

"Why is your sister talking to the ceiling?" Grunkle Stan asked.

"And why are you standing like George Washington crossing the Delaware River?" Asked Jason, who got confused looks from Stan and Dipper. "Really?" he asked, "Oh my-Read a book, people!" He turned his attention back towards the little girl who still had the sketchbook and pencil in hand. "Well I'll just leave you to your work, kiddo," Jason said, "I need to step out and do something" And with that said, he was out the door with his phone out; thumb already swiping up and down the screen of it as he looked through his contacts. There wasn't a lot to look through since he only had three phone numbers in there; Wendy, Soos, and Grunkle Stan. Once he got outside, up onto the roof, and found the number he was looking for, he hit dial on his phone. He waited patiently until the person on the other end picked up. "Hey Wendy, it's me"

* * *

 ** _-Later-_**

"I think...it needs more glitter," said Mabel, taking a step back to admire her work. Grabbing a bucket of glitter from behind, being held by Soos, she tossed all of that was inside of the bucket onto the wax sculpture. "Perfect!" she said, as she stared in awe at her masterpiece! While she and the others were staring at the wax figure, walking up from behind was Grunkle Stan with his pants on but no shoes; not at all paying attention to what everyone is so focused on.

"I found my pants but now I'm missing my-" He stopped and looked towards what everyone was looking at. "Ahhh!" He screamed and recoiled in fear, falling to the floor as he looked at the wax figure; it was him smiling and giving everyone a thumbs up. Everyone looked down at the man who had suddenly fallen onto the floor. Mabel out of three still standing, who was still smiling, walked over to her Grunkle Stan.

"So…?" Mabel said, "What do you think?" While they were so focused on Grunkle Stan, they didn't notice someone else walking into the room.

"Hey, guys!" Jason said as he walked into the room, his hood no longer on top of his head. "Sorry about that. I'm…" he paused as he looked and saw everyone for staring down at a smiling Grunkle Stan, who was lying down on the floor with a smiling wax figure of him standing in front of him and giving everyone a thumbs up. "…In need of an explanation here"

* * *

 ** _-10 Minutes Later-_**

Outside the Mystery Shack Soos was leading people in to see the grand opening of the Wax Museum, using corn dogs. While he was getting people in, both Dipper and Wendy at the admissions table near the stage that held the entire Wax Museum and its newest attraction.

"I can't believe all these people showed up!" Dipper said as he looked at the many people who came to see the reopening of the Wax Museum. While he and Wendy were talking, coming up to Wendy from the side was Jason with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey you two!" Jason said, "Looks like most of the town is here" Looking around, he saw a bunch of people sitting in front of the stage waiting for Grunkle Stan to make his big announcement. "So Wendy," he said, "Thanks again for…" He paused when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dipper look over at them. "For...cheering me up yesterday! I owe you one" Wendy was confused about his reaction until she remembered that Dipper was right next to them.

"Oh sure, no problem!" she said, "Always willing to help a friend out!" While it wasn't a total lie, they were helpful for this particular conversation. "Anyway, Dipper and I were just talking about how a lot of people showed up to this thing Stan is putting up" She looked past Jason and saw Grunkle Stan walking up to the podium that stood up front on the stage. Up on the stage with him was Soos with an electric keyboard, and Mabel with something big standing right next to her that was covered by a white sheet. "Looks like the show is starting"

"Well I'm going to go check it out," Jason said before he walked away from the two. "See ya!" As he was walking away, he couldn't help but notice a flyer posted on one of the wooden poles that were used to hold up the banner. He walked over to the pole and pulled the flyer off of it. " _Free pizza with admission to the grand unveiling at the Mystery Shack"_ Jason said as read the words that were put on the flyer. "So that's how he got them all to come here" He crumbled up the flyer and tossed it into a nearby trashcan as he made his way towards the stage. "Let's see how far this lie can get you, Stan"

* * *

 ** _-The Stage-_**

"You all know me, folks!" Stan said, with a confident look on his face. "Town darling, ' _Mr. Mystery.'_ Please, ladies, control yourselves!" The ladies mentioned, particularly three in the back row, didn't respond. They just stared blankly at him with flies buzzing around them for some reason. "As you know," Stan said, "I always bring the people of this fair town novelties and befuddlements, the likes of which the world, has never known. But enough about me" While he was talking, climbing up the stairs on the side of the stage, was Jason with a hand in one pocket and a phone in the other. "Behold…" Stan said as he told a few steps towards the big thing that was covered by the white sheet. "Me!" As soon as he grabbed hold of the white sheet, he pulled it away to reveal Wax Stan! A fanfare, along with "Yeah! Ye-Ye-Ye-Ye-Yeah!" sounded from Soos' keyboard behind Stan. A few people from the audience lightly clapped afterward, but it seemed like they were just being polite. "And now a word from our own, Mabelangelo!"

"It's Mabel," Mabel said as she took the microphone from her uncle's hand. "Thank you for coming! I made this sculpture with my own two hands! It's covered in my blood, sweat, tears, and other fluids!" After she said that, the audience let out a few sounds of disgusts including Jason from behind her, making her laugh for some reason. "Yeah, I will now take questions!" she said before pointing towards McGucket. "You there!"

"Old Man McGucket, local kook," he said as he stood up. "Are the wax figures alive? And a follow-up question, can I survive the wax-man uprising?"

"Uhh...Yes!" Mabel said, not really knowing what to say to a question. "Next question!" She pointed towards one of the reporters that were in front of her. It was a man that looked to be in his late 40's and wore a classic journalist outfit with suspenders and a small press fedora with a label on it that said "HAT" on it instead of "PRESS." He had short brown hair and glasses, with a long mustache and three freckles near the top of his head. His nose was long like Grunkle Stan's and on his feet, he wore small black shoes with a hole in the left one.

"Toby Determined, Gravity Falls Gossiper" Toby said as he held up a microphone, or a turkey baster as it more looked like, towards Grunkle Stan. "Do you really think this constitutes a wonder of the world?"

"Your microphone's a turkey baster, Toby" Stan pointed out. Just as Toby was now realizing what the man said, Stan interrupted him as he called out for another person. "Next question!" Right after he said that, a woman stood up that wore a reporter's outfit that looked more decent Toby's. She is tall with a tan skin tone and brown hair that went a little bit past her shoulders.

"Shandra Jimenez, a _real_ reporter," she said, looking in Toby's direction as she said the last part before switching her attention back to Stan. "Your fliers promised free pizza with admission to this event," she said as she pulled out one of the fliers that were sent out to everyone. "Is this true?" Suddenly suspicion started to erupt amongst the audience as Grunkle Stan started getting nervous.

"That's what I heard!" "Come on!" "What a rip-off!" "Pizza?" "I want my pizza!"

"That was a typo. Good night everyone!" With those last words, the man pulled out a smoke bomb from his suit and used it to make his escape; while the audience was busy yelling angrily about their pizza or just leaving, Stan had run off with the box filled with the collection fee in his hands. Getting tired of waiting, the audience decided to leave in a fit of rage; but not without breaking a few things first. One woman broke a plastic chair and a large lumberjack punched a pole almost bringing the whole thing down. While everyone was leaving, Mabel and Jason were making their way towards the admissions table where Dipper and Wendy were still at.

"Well…" Jason said, who was leaning against the table while fiddling with something in his pants pocket. "That could've gone better" The sun went down as time quickly went by. Everyone had cleaned up the mess and put the wax figures back in the parlor, while Wax Stan was brought to the living room for some reason. Once everything was taken care of, everyone went back to their own homes to get some rest.

"Hot pumpkin pie! Look at all of this cash!" said Stan as he counted the money in his hands. "And I owe it all to one person!" Instead of pointing towards Mabel, who was standing right next to him, he pointed towards Wax Stan who was propped up against the chair in the living room; letting out an "Ooh!" as his niece gave him a bit hard, but playful, jab in the stomach. "Yeah, you too, ya little gremlin," He said as he gave her a little noogie before gently pushing her away. "Now you two go wash up. We got another long day of fleecing rubes tomorrow. Go go!" He shooed the kids away out of the living room and they made their way towards the bathroom to get washed up. "Kids" Stan said before letting out a sigh of exhaustion.

* * *

 ** _-Jason's Apartment-_**

"A lie can only get you so far, Stan," Jason said as he took off his shoes and set them right by the door. "But, at least you have a good enough reason to lie" Taking his jacket off and hanging it on a hook on his wall, he plopped himself down onto his bed before letting out a sigh of exhaustion. As he sat there, on his bed, he couldn't help but think about yesterday. His little chat with Wendy, Stan giving him that safe, Mabel...Mabel… "That kid and her brother are really something," Jason said as he laid down on his onto his bed. "But, he can be a bit too nosey sometimes and she can be a bit much. Just like...like..." He paused himself as he thought about someone he knew; someone that could also be a bit too nosey and a bit too much. "Sarah...out of all the people to leave me...why did-"

" _NOOOOOO!"_

"Grrrr, really Stan?" asked Jason, with a bit of anger in his voice. "It's 10:00 at night for crying out loud!" He was about to put his shoes back on until he looked at the night sky where the moon hovered all above the world, shining its light on the sleeping residents of Gravity Falls. "I'll deal with it tomorrow," He said before resting his head on his pillows and drifting off into dreamland.

* * *

 ** _-The Next Day-_**

"Hey, guys I'm...here?" Jason said as he showed up, only to find not the usual lounging around in the living room, but a crime scene set up with a decapitated Wax Stan lying in the middle. Investigating the crime scene was Dipper and Mabel who was taking pictures. "Someone mind filling me in here?" Dipper told him that last night, while Grunkle Stan was going to the bathroom, Wax Stan was decapitated and its head was stolen afterward. Because the police won't do anything, he and Mabel are going to solve the mystery themselves. "...People usually don't start their mornings off like this," Jason said as he stepped over the toilet paper that was used to surround the crime scene, but Dipper stopped him just as his foot was about to reach over it.

"Sorry, can't risk you contaminating the crime scene," Dipper said, in which Jason rolled his eyes at him before he sat down. "Now, Mabel, Wax Stan has lost his head and it's up to us to find it" He then made his way towards a bulletin board that was full of pictures of the possible suspects. "The murderer could have been anyone"

"Yeah! Even us!"

"In this town, anything is possible," Dipper said as he pulled his journal out from his vest and started going through it. "Ghosts, zombies, it could be months before we find our first clue" It wasn't until then that Mabel pointed out some footprints surrounding Wax Stan. "Footprints in the shag carpet!"

"Well since there's no use for me being here," Jason said as he stood up, "I might as well leave" Just as he was leaving, he quickly popped his head back into the living room. "Oh, by the way," Jason said, "If you do find the murder weapon, I suggest you put gloves on before you pick it up" And with that said, Jason made his leave. As soon as he made his way outside he started making his way towards home. But before he could, he was stopped by Stan asking him for help with something. "I'm sorry, Stan, but-" He paused when he couldn't help but hear a muffled conversation through the window of the gift shop. He slowly poked his head in through the back door just enough so he can see them, seeing Soos holding an ax in his hands; making sure to use a pair of gloves as to not leave any fingerprints on it. "Murder weapon found," Jason said as he pulled his head out of the doorway and started making his way towards his motorcycle. "It's none of my business, though. If they want to do it themselves, then go ahead" He strapped the helmet onto himself and drove off down the dirt pathway, heading towards home.

"Hey, give me a hand with this coffin, will ya?" asked Stan as he struggled with pulling a coffin out of his car. Just as he was pulling it out, Dipper and Mabel were walking past him with Dipper having the handle of the ax sticking out of his backpack. "I'm doing a memorial service for wax Stan. Something small, but classy. I asked Jason for help but he wouldn't do it for some reason"

"Sorry, Grunkle Stan," Dipper said, "But we have got a big break in the case! Right now, we're heading into town to investigate the murderer" All of a sudden, Mabel grabbed hold of the handle sticking out of Dipper's backpack and pulled out the ax.

"We have an ax!" She said before imitating the screeching sounds from horror movies. "REE, REE, REE!"

"Hm, this seems like the kind of thing that responsible parents wouldn't want you to do…" Grunkle Stan said, having a bit of a serious look on his face before quickly switching back to his happy, loveable self. "Good thing I'm an uncle. Avenge me kids! AVENGE MEEE!" Stan screamed at the top of his lungs with his fist and head held up high. With those last words, the two young amateur sleuths made their way towards town.

* * *

 ** _-Town-_**

The two were heading towards where the murderer, Manly Dan, usually hangs out; the Skull Fracture. A bar downtown that is, as Soos described it, a "crazy intense biker joint". Talking to Manly Dan would be easy; getting in...Not so easy.

"This is the place," Dipper said, who was hiding behind a dumpster near Skull Fracture with his sister. He poked his head out from behind the dumpster to see if the coast was clear, but he quickly pulled back because as soon as looked at the bouncer, the bouncer looked back at him. "Got the fake IDs?" Dipper asked his sister, who was hiding inside the dumpster instead of behind it. Popping out from the dumpster with the fake IDs in hand, Mabel reaches over and hands her brother his fake ID. "Here goes nothing," Dipper said, taking a good look at his ID before he and Mabel start making their way towards the bouncer who was talking to someone else.

"Sorry," the bouncer said, "But we don't serve minors" The minor, or actually, the miner, retaliated by jumping around and then spitting on the ground before he stomped away in anger. After he walked, coming up next towards the bouncer was Dipper and Mabel with their fake IDs in hand.

"Hello, good sir," Mabel said before she and Dipper held up their IDs. "We're here to interrogate Manly Dan the lumberjack for the murder of Wax Stan" As she showed the bouncer her ID, she jingled hers a little making the googly eyes rattle around. "Deedle-eedle-eet" Somehow the poorly made fake IDs worked because as soon as they showed them to the bouncer, he opened the door for the two; once the door was open they made their way inside. Inside the place it was filled with nothing but men; two were fighting, a few were playing pool, one them was unconscious on the floor, and anyone else who wasn't doing anything was having themselves a drink. The two kids walked around the bar as they looked for Manly Dan; Mabel stepping over an unconscious body. "He's resting," she said with a bit of a smile on her said.

"Alright, let's just try to blend in," Dipper said, "Okay?" And with that said, he started making his way towards Manly Dan who was playing an arm wrestling game at the far end of the bar.

"You've got it, dipping sauce!" Mabel said, before climbing up onto a nearby chair and turning towards a biker that was just a few inches away from her. "Hey there, fellow restaurant patron!" She said before patting his arm. "Bap" In which he responded by growling at her as if he was a dog who just got his bone taken away.

"I wouldn't go around making enemies if I were you," said someone who was sitting on the other side of Mabel. Out of curiosity as to who this stranger is, Mabel turned herself around to face them. "You'll get into less trouble that way" He was a man who looked to be in his early 20's with black hair and emerald green eyes. On his ears, he wore diamond earrings and around his neck he wore a necklace, but only the chain could be seen because whatever was on the end of it was being hidden by his shirt. The shirt he wore was a dark gray color and his pants were as blue as the midnight sky. But, despite the man's age, he still looked almost young enough to still be in high school. When the man looked over at Mabel, he saw that she was smiling at him. "What're you smiling about?" he asked, "You think I'm kidding?"

"Well of course not!" Mabel said, "But I think that maybe you were just misinterpreting what I was doing!" She turned back around towards the biker she was talking to a minute ago and out of nowhere, she pulled out an origami fortune teller. "Now, fellow restaurant patron," Mabel said, "Madame Mabel shall now tell you your fortune!" While Mabel and the biker were talking back and forth while using the fortune teller, the unknown man was watching Dipper and Manly Dan having their little conversation; slipping a folded piece of paper into the back of Mabel's sweater while she was distracted. Once Dipper was finished with his conversation, he came running back towards his sister; not paying any attention towards the stranger that's been watching them the entire time. As soon as the kid came over, the stranger slipped a folded up piece of paper into the back of his vest.

' _Poor, innocent little children'_

"Mabel, a big break in the case!" Dipper said with excitement in his voice. Mabel hopped off the chair and followed her brother as the two ran out through the door of the biker joint. As soon as they got outside, they started searching for their next suspect. "It's a left-handed ax," he said before pulling a list out of his backpack. "These are all our suspects. Manly Dan is right-handed, so that means all we have to do is find our left-handed suspect and we've got our killer!" Mabel was about to say something until they heard the familiar sound of a certain someone's motorcycle driving up beside them. Once he came to a stop in between two cars, Jason removed his helmet and stepped off of his motorcycle.

"Hey, you two!" he said, "How's the investigation going?" Dipper told him that they just learned that the suspect is left handed and that they're about to go looking for them, while Mabel told him that she told a biker's future about his love life. "Well at least you two are making progress," he said, "Good luck on your investigation! I've got some errands I need to finish!" He then hopped back on his bike with his helmet under his arm. "Oh! I almost forgot!" He said, hanging his helmet on one of the handlebars and sliding his backpack off. Placing it on the seat of his bike, he unzipped his bag and started searching around it. "Where is it…?" He asked while he was looking around inside his bag. "Hm...Aha!" Out of his bag, he pulled out a small box and handed it to Mabel. "Some guy said that I should give it to you," he said, "Said that he knew you or something" After zipping back up his bag and slipping it back onto his back, he slipped his helmet on and drove off. As he drove off, Mabel looked at the box in her hand. While she does want to find out what's inside it, she and her brother have a mystery to solve.

"Mabel," Dipper said, breaking his sister away from her thoughts. "I know I should probably be asking what's going on, but we've got a mystery to solve first" Getting a nod from Mabel, he had her put the box inside his backpack and went back to the objective at hand. They went from person to person, looking for the left-handed suspect responsible for the murder of Wax Stan. One by one they checked the suspects, and out of all of them, only one was left-handed. Going through the list of suspects that were checked off, Dipper stopped until he came across one that fit the profile of the suspect. "Mabel, there is only one person left on this list!" he exclaimed as he showed his sister the list.

"Of course, it all adds up!" Mabel said, "Let's go tell the-"

" _Hello, children~,"_ Said a voice from behind the kids, a voice that was sounded more familiar to Mabel than it did to Dipper. Quickly turning around, the kids saw the same man Mabel met at the biker joint. "Mabel, was it?" he asked, "Did you get that thing I had what's-his-name bring to you?" In response, Mabel gave him a polite nod. Before the stranger could say something else, he saw Dipper step in front of Mabel with his arms spread out. "Oh, I get it," he said, "Some guy you don't know, pops in out of nowhere starts talking all nice to her, and now you think something bad is going to happen" The man leaned against the wall of the nearest building as he tucked his hands into his pockets, keeping his attention focused on the kids. "I can't blame you for thinking that, honestly," he said, "In this world, you have to be careful on who you talk to; let alone, who you put your faith in" Deciding that he was done here, the man turned around and started walking away. "The name's Michael, by the way," he said as he pulled one of his hands out and waved at them. "Good luck with your little investigation, or whatever it is you're doing with that ax in your backpack" And like that, he was gone.

* * *

 ** _-Night Time-_**

It was nighttime and the kids were in front of the Gravity Falls Gossiper building with Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland. Sheriff Blubs was a short, heavyset old man with a dark skin tone and Deputy Durland was a lanky, pale guy with a unibrow.

"You kids better be right about this," Sheriff Blubs said, "Or you'll never hear the end of it"

"The evidence is irrefutable!" Dipper said, with determination in his voice. Afterward, his sister repeated the last two things he just said but made it sound a bit silly. The two cops started getting all hyped up for some reason and then started poking each other with their police batons. "On 3! 1...2…" On three, Deputy Durland kicked down the door and rushed in, along with the rest of them.

"Nobody move! This is a raid!" Sheriff Blubs said as he came in, with his partner knocking over a lamp. As soon as he and his partner barged in, Toby Determined fell out of his chair as he screamed out of fright. While this was happening, someone was watching it all while he remained hidden away from the others.

"Oh, you poor kids, "said Michael, who was leaning against the wall of an alleyway across from where Dipper and Mabel are. "You almost had it, but you caught the wrong fish. Catfish in this particular situation. Oh well..." He stepped out of the alleyway and started making his way across the street; ignoring the laughter. "At least you tried" When he saw the door start to open, he quickly got into hiding before he could get seen. When the door opened, out came Dipper and Mabel with their heads hanged in shamed, and both officers laughing at them as they made their way to their car. Once Blubs and Durland got into their car, they drove off leaving Dipper and Mabel to walk home alone.

"Didn't catch the suspect, did ya?" said Michael, who was sitting on top of a sunroof that was connected to one of the buildings; as soon as he spoke, he scared both of the kids making them jump. He jumped off of the sunroof and then quickly grabbed hold of a light post that was nearby; sliding and swinging around it before landing right in front of them. Out from his back pocket, he pulled out a flashlight and turned it on. "Follow me and I'll walk you two home" He started making his way down the sidewalk with his flashlight in hand to help show the pathway, but he stopped when he didn't hear the extra pair of footsteps following behind him. Turning around he shined his flashlight on the two kids who were still standing there with their heads down. "Hey!" he shouted, "I don't know where you kids live and I doubt anybody's still up for me to ask for directions. So, I'm gonna need you two to hurry up and start moving so you can help me out"

* * *

 ** _-Later-_**

"So, Michael…" Mabel said, "What're you doing out at this time of the night?" He had not said a word the entire time they had been walking towards the Mystery Shack and had just now started going through the woods. "I mean...if you don't mind me asking"

"I was busy doing something until I saw the two of you running around with those sorry excuses of the law enforcement," Michael said, not at all looking down at Mabel. "It's none of your business anyway, you're just a kid" He looked down at Mabel's little brother Dipper and saw that he still had on that shameful expression on his face from earlier. "Are you kidding me?" asked Michael, "You're still upset over not catching the suspect? Get over it...um…" Not once did he ask the kid for his name on their way over to the Mystery Shack. Not knowing what else to say, he just said the first thing that came to mind. "I'm just going to call you Pine Tree," He said as his eyes traveled towards Dipper's hat. As he called him that, Dipper looked up at him in confusion. "Oh hey, we're almost there!" Dipper looked turned his attention back towards the pathway ahead of them and saw that Michael was right; it seemed that while they were busy talking, they hadn't noticed how close they were getting to their destination.

They stopped walking when they were over halfway up the dirt pathway. "Well this is where I take my leave, kiddos," he said before picking up a long stick and walking away. "Oh, and one more thing!" he said as he stopped and did a small turn around to face the kids. "A little something that'll help you out in the future," He reached into his pocket, pulled out a small gold key, and tossed it to Dipper who caught in his hands. "Trust me, you'll need it" And with those last words, he started walking away while he was twirling the stick in his hand while talking to himself. He was talking so softly it was hard to understand what he was saying. Both of the twins looked at each other in confusion. How is a key going to help them?

* * *

 ** _-The Parlor-_**

The gang was now in the parlor room which was set up as a funeral for Wax Stan. Up front sat Jason, Soos and the twins, while the rest of the chairs were filled in by the wax figures. Up on stage was Stan with his headless wax doppelganger lying in a coffin right next to him.

"Kids, Soos, Jason, lifeless wax figures, thank you all for coming," said Stan as he began his eulogy. "Some people might say that it's wrong for a man to love a wax replica of himself" Soos, taking a break from his sobbing, shouted out of disagreement. "Easy Soos," Stan said, "Wax Stan, I hope you're picking pockets in wax heaven" It was at that moment that he could no longer hold in his tears. "I'm sorry, I got glitter in my eye!" He said before running away and crying, with Soos following behind and crying as well. Jason got up from his seat and walked over to the two kids who were still sitting in theirs.

"Thanks for coming, Jason," Mabel said, who had the ax they've been carrying around all day in her hands. "It's been a bit of a stressful day today for us so you showing up for this really helps out" Jason responded by giving her a little smile.

"Those cops were right about me," Dipper said as he started sinking into his chair. Jason just looked at him in confusion. Just what were the cops right about exactly? He then saw Dipper hop up out of his chair and make his way over to the coffin with the other two following behind. "But I considered everything," Dipper said, "The weapon, the motive, the clues"

"Well let's go over what you told me after I came back" Jason said, "The weapon you found is left handed, Toby Determined is left handed and has a hole in his shoe, but at 10:00 he was...well you know" Both him and Dipper shuddered as the image of Toby making out with a cardboard cutout of Shandra Jimenez popped into their heads. He was about to say something else until Dipper interrupted him as he pointed something out on Wax Stan's left shoe.

"Wax Stan's shoe has a hole in it," Dipper said as Mabel pointing out the fact that all wax figures have that and that it's where the pole attaches to their stand. "Wait a minute," Dipper said, as he slowly comes to a realization, "What has a hole in its shoe and no fingerprints? Mabel! The murders are-"

"Standing right behind you?"

The three quickly turned around and both of the twins gasped as right before their eyes, each and every one of the wax figures started coming to life. Jason just stood there, stunned at the scene that played before him.

"Oh my gosh!" Dipper said as he started naming off the wax figures that were coming to life. "Wax Sherlock Holmes! Wax Shakespeare! Wax Coolio?" "What's up, Holmes?" Jason couldn't help but laugh a little at that. Walking up to them from the side was Wax Lizzie Borden, who snatched the ax right out of Mabel's hands making the kid hide behind her brother out of fear.

"Congratulation, my two amateur sleuths," Sherlock Holmes said before taking out his big magnifying glass. "You've unburied the truth, and now we're going to bury _you"_ Jason and the kids watched as the wax figures started walking towards them. They tried to back away from them, but when they did, they were immediately stopped by the coffin behind them.

"Bravo, Dipper Pines!" he said, "You've discovered our little secret" Using a free hand, he pulled out the disembodied head of Wax Stan out of his cape. "Applaud, everyone!" He said as he turned towards the crowd of wax figures, who immediately started clapping. "Applaud sarcastically. Uh, no that sounds too sincere. Slow clap" The menacing audience of wax slowed down until their clapping turned into more of a slow clap. "There we go," Sherlock Holmes said, "Nice and condescending" While this was happening, Jason was already slowly making his way towards a table nearby that had napkins, plastic silverware, a coffee maker, and electric candles. Quickly grabbing a cup he poured himself some coffee and made his back over to the others with the coffee pot in the other hand. When he came back, they were talking about Stan starting some wax museum after getting the wax figures from a haunted garage sale or something. " _And so, the Mystery Shack Wax Collection was born. By day, we would be the playthings of-"_ He paused when he heard the sound of footsteps and sipping coming up from the side. When the kids looked, they saw Jason with a cup in one hand and the coffee pot in the other.

"What…?" Jason said as he saw the stares he was getting, taking a sip from his coffee. "I was just getting some coffee, I'm kind of falling asleep here. Go ahead, continue with your story" He sat down on the stage and set the coffee pot aside but kept hold of his cup. While Dipper and Mabel had turned their attention back towards the wax figures, the enemies still had their sights on the man with the coffee; giving him stares filled with much hate. "Oh, where are my manners?" He asked as he picked up the coffee pot and got up from where he sat, making his way towards the wax figures. "I shouldn't hog the coffee all to myself! Here, have some for yourselves!" As he reached it out towards them, they took a small step back to get away from the hot coffee. "What's wrong?" Jason asked, "Not a fan of coffee? There's nothing wrong with it, I-"

"Would you cut it out?!" yelled Wax Sherlock Holmes, "Step back and take your coffee with-" He was interrupted by the sound of yelling as Wax Genghis Khan came rushing towards Jason. As soon as the man got close enough, Jason splashed what was left of the coffee onto his face; Genghis Khan screeched to a stop and screamed in pain as he felt the hot coffee turn his wax face into a melted puddle.

"I guess he's not a fan of coffee," Jason said as he set the coffee pot down on the stage. Quickly making their way towards the table, Dipper and Mabel picked up the electric candles and pointed them towards the wax figures who were now backing away from them. Jason looked down at the cup he had in his hand, thinking he could use it to take out another wax figure, but the cup was completely empty of all coffee. "Plan B," He said before picking up a sword Genghis Khan dropped and joining the rest of them just in time as the wax figures start their attack. As they started attacking, Lizzie Borden went straight for Mabel as she swung her ax at her head. But, Jason quickly blocked her ax with his sword; making it safe for Mabel to get through. As she pulled her ax back and swung it again, he blocked it again. Unfortunately, while he was distracted with Lizzie, Robin Hood was readying up his shot on the side. Seeing him out of the corner of his eye, Jason quickly pushed Lizzie away and moved back just as the arrow was fired; flying past his head and striking the wall on the other side of the room. While Jason was busy fighting Lizzie Borden and Robin Hood, Dipper and Mabel were busy taking care of the other wax figures.

"Interview _this,_ Larry King!" Dipper said before decapitating Larry King with the candle in his hand. As the headless man stumbled away, grabbing the candle from behind was Groucho whose hand immediately started to melt. "Jokes on _you,_ Groucho!" Dipper said as he turned around and cut the man in half with the hot candle.

"I've heard of a cutting a remark, but this is ridiculous!" Groucho said as the top half started sliding off the bottom half; shaking his hand around with a cigar in it like he used to do back then until he realized that he had no cigar. "Hey, why is there nothing in my hand?" The next person to come towards Dipper was a melted Genghis Khan, but the kid dodged just in time and the once menacing wax figure ran right into the fireplace; melting until he was nothing but a puddle.

"Ha, Genghis Khan!" Dipper said, "You fell harder than the...uh...I don't know, Jin Dynasty?"

"At least you tried, kid!" Jason said, quickly dodging a swing from Lizzie's ax. "Now keep going!" Dipper got up and started making his way back towards the fight. Robin Hood was preparing another shot, however, this time he was aiming towards Dipper. When Jason saw where the man was aiming, he knew he had to act fast. Quickly pushing his opponent off to the side, he ran as fast as he could towards the kid to push him out of the way; unknowingly dropping his sword by the fireplace. The archer fired the arrow, sending straight towards Dipper. The arrow hit something and pierced the person's flesh, only it wasn't the person it was aimed towards. "Ahh!" Jason screamed as he felt the arrow go through his jacket and pierce his right arm; falling down onto his knees as he held his arm in pain. Dipper was just about to turn back until he heard the sound of another wax figure running towards him.

"Dipper, watch out!" Mabel screamed as Wax Richard Nixon came running towards Dipper. Turning towards the enemy, Dipper quickly cut off their leg while Jason slowly stood up and started backing away from him; making sure that both Robin Hood and Lizzie Borden were still paying attention to him. Holding Wax Coolio's head by his dreadlocks, she swung it around and let go, sending it straight towards Lizzie Borden; when it hit her, it made a direct hit at her head making her stumble a bit. This gave Jason the chance to get to the fireplace and grab the sword, but also brought attention towards herself. When Jason got to the fireplace, he saw that the blade was awfully close to the flames so he grabbed the handle as to not burn himself.

"Got it!" he said, "Now I just gotta-" He was interrupted by the sound of Mabel's scream as both Lizzie and Robin started coming towards her. On the other side, he could also hear the other wax figures that were knocked down standing back up. Turning around, he saw the wax figures slowly surrounding him and Mabel. "No...No... _No more messing around!_ "

* * *

 ** _-The Attic-_**

Dipper was fighting off against Wax Sherlock Holmes with the fire poker. Each strike the man made at the child with his sword, it was immediately blocked by the poker. It wasn't until that, while they were busy fighting their way up the stairs to the attic, that Dipper found himself cornered.

"Once your family is out of the way, we'll rule the night once again!" said Holmes as he raised his sword high above Dipper, ready to strike down and end the boy's life. It wasn't until Dipper saw the window that leads outside to the roof. Thinking quickly, the boy dived in between the man's legs and ran towards the window.

"Don't count on it!" Dipper said as he stepped out the window and started climbing up the roof of the Mystery Shack; making his way towards the sign. He had to climb as fast as he could because the wax figure was right behind him. Once he got on top of the sign, he did his best to keep his balance as he walked across it; trying to get away from Wax Sherlock Holmes. The man, however, was right behind and with his sword ready in hand. Quickly turning around, Dipper blocked Sherlock Holmes' sword with the fire poker, again, and again the sword and poker clashed between each other as their wielders tried to maintain their balance on top of the sign. Wax Sherlock Holmes tried to hit the child once more with the sword, but missed as said child dodged just in time; resulting in the sword colliding with the S they just put back on, knocking it back down to the ground.

"You really think you can outwit me, boy?" Said Sherlock Holmes, now angrier than ever, "I'm Sherlock _bleeding_ Holmes! Have you _seen_ my magnifying glass?! It's enormous!" Seeing as how continuing to fight him would be pointless, Dipper dropped the poker and hopped up to the top of the sign that _said Mystery on it._ Climbing over it, he dropped down and immediately started sliding down the roof; if he had not quickly grabbed onto the edge of the platform that was below him a few seconds ago, he would've had more damage done to him by gravity than Wax Sherlock Holmes. He quickly climbed up onto the platform and hid behind a chimney to help give him some time to think. He checked around to see if the menacing wax figure was still there, letting out a sigh of relief as he saw no sign of him. He was proven wrong as the man delivered a kick to the boy's stomach, knocking him down. _"Any last words?"_ said Sherlock Holmes as he slowly raised his sword, ready to deal one final strike.

"Um...you got any sunscreen?" said Dipper as he looks at the sky past the trees.

"Got any-?" The man was interrupted as something started dripping down in front of him. When he looked up, he saw wax start melting and dripping on the wooden platform; the sword slipped from his grip the more his hands began to melt. Looking in the same direction the boy was looking, he saw that the morning sun was beginning to set, the start of a new day but also the defeat of himself. "No," He said, as he realized what had just happened.

"You know, letting me lead you outside?" Dipper asked, with a bit of a smirk on his face. "Probably not your sharpest decision"

* * *

 ** _-The Parlor-_**

Mabel was busy tossing in leftover wax limbs in the fireplace, while Jason was sitting on the stage covered in a few cuts and a few bandages wrapped around his right arm and left hand; his jacket lying right next to him. The floor was littered with puddles of melted wax with a sword sticking straight out of one of them, knocked over chairs, and against the wall was a cracked podium.

"Hey, Mabel," Jason said, stopping the little girl who was just about to pick up the head of Wax Shakespeare. "Could you maybe-" He paused as he heard the sound of someone screaming outside the broken window, ending with a gross squishing noise. "Um...anyway," Jason said as he went back to what he was saying. "Do you think you could keep this a secret?" Hearing that made Mabel confused, "Please? Promise me you won't tell anyone" Mabel was about to ask him something until she heard the sound of her brother start making her way downstairs. Not wanting to waste any time, she quickly picked up Wax Shakespeare's head and tossed it into the open fire. As soon as she threw the man's head in, her brother Dipper walked into the parlor.

"Dipper! You're okay!" Mabel said as she ran over to her brother, who was walking over to the disembodied head of Wax Stan that was put on one of the horns of a rhino on the wall. "You solved the mystery after all" Her brother pulled up a nearby chair and climbed to grab the wax head. After pulling it free, he climbed back down the chair with the smiling wax head in his arms.

"I couldn't have done it without my sidekick," He said with a bit of a smile on his face. As the two started going back and forth a bit, Stan came walking into the parlor completely oblivious as to what had happened. When he walked in, he was completely shocked to see his parlor a complete wreck!

"Hot Belgian waffles!" He screamed as he saw his parlor in shambles. "What happened to my parlor!?"

"Your wax figures turned out to be evil, so we fought them to the death!" "I decapitated Larry King" "I learned that Genghis Khan doesn't like coffee. Also, you're out of coffee"

"Ha ha! You kids and your imaginations!" said Grunkle Stan, chuckling a bit at their silly responses. Wax figures coming to life, the things kids come up with these days! Jason couldn't help but smile as he watched from the stage the scene that played before him. As Dipper handed Stan the head of the wax doppelganger, the uncle wrapped an arm around them and affectionately noogied the two.

Deciding that it was time for him to make his way back home, he pushed himself up slowly from the stage onto his feet; letting out a bit of a groan as he used the arm that had bandages wrapped around it. As he got up to his feet, he suddenly heard the sirens of a police car pull up to the side of the Mystery Shack. Picking up his jacket, he made his way towards the doorway of the parlor. He just wants to get home and NOT get involved with the police. While he was walking, from behind he could hear screaming and spitting coming from the cops outside. Making his way out through the door of the Gift Shop, he slipped on his jacket and zipped it up.

"I just need to get home and take some painkillers or something," he said as he made his way over to his motorcycle. He quickly slipped on his leather gloves and put on his helmet, making sure the straps were nice and secure. As he was getting on his motorcycle, though it was muffled, he could hear Mabel calling out to him as she came running outside. _'Mabel now's not the time for this'_ He undid the straps and pulled the helmet off so he could hear what she had to say. "What is it, kiddo?" he asked.

"You shouldn't be moving around with those injuries, Jason!" She said with a worried look on her face. "We should get you treated or at least call-"

"Mabel, Mabel, Mabel!" Jason said, interrupting the distressed little girl. "I'll be fine! I just need to take some medicine and get some sleep, that's all" The girl before him, even after saying that, still had a distressed look on her face. Hanging his helmet on one of the handlebars, he hopped off of the seat and kneeled down in front of Mabel. He had to say something that would convince her he's alright...or to not call an ambulance. "Mabel, listen," he said, "I know you just want to help and all, but I'll be fine. I'll be back in tip-top shape before you know it, alright?" Looking and Mabel, he saw that she had looked away from him but still worry on her face. ' _You're not making this easy, kid'_ He needed to think of something to cheer the kid up, and fast! "Mabel, I really do appreciate you thinking of my safety," he said before giving her a hug, surprising her a bit. "Out of all the people I've met, I'd say that your heart is the biggest of them all. And the fact that you share that big heart of yours with someone like me is really something. Thank you, Mabel" Patiently he waited for her to respond; seconds went by before he heard the little girl start sniffling.

"You're welcome," Mabel said as she slowly wrapped her arms around Jason, tears streaming down her cheeks. "And thank you for saying that" She felt Jason's hand gently ruffle her hair before pulling his arms away from her and standing up.

"See ya later, Mabel," Jason said, lifting his helmet up from the handlebars and hopping back up onto his motorcycle. "I'll make it up to you" Slipping his helmet on, he tightened the straps on and started up his motorcycle; turning it around and making his way home to take some medicine. ' _Those poor kids,'_ Jason thought to himself as he focused on getting home as fast as he could. ' _There's still so much Summer for them to have fun, and they just survived being attacked by murderous wax figures'_ Finally making his way to his apartment, he trekked his way up to his room with the helmet under his arm. ' _Good luck kids...you're going to need it'_

 _ **LBH PNA BAYL TRG FB SNE VA YVSR OL YLVAT.**_


End file.
